DNA encoding ring zinc-finger protein and the use of the DNA in vectors and bacteria and in plants

ABSTRACT

The present inventions relate to compositions and methods for providing stress tolerant transgenic plants comprising a RING domain zinc-finger motif transcription factor protein. More particularly, the invention relates to compositions and methods comprising a RING-H2 domain transcription factor protein for providing drought and salt tolerant plants, in particular comprising a recombinant XERICO gene and protein.

The present application was funded in part with government support under grant number 2005-34158-16544 United States Department of Agriculture. The government may have certain rights in this invention.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present inventions relate to compositions and methods for providing stress tolerant transgenic plants comprising a RING domain zinc-finger motif transcription factor protein. More particularly, the invention relates to compositions and methods comprising a RING-H2 domain transcription factor protein for providing drought and salt tolerant plants, in particular comprising a recombinant XERICO gene and protein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Drought is one of the major limiting factors for plant productivity and spatial distribution. The annual loss in yield of major cereal crops due to drought is estimated to exceed ten billion dollars globally. Furthermore, desertification, defined as “Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas,” is happening in about 70% of the total drylands (3.6 billion hectares) of the world and has become a very distinctive global issue with major environmental consequences. It affects about 25% of the total land area of the world and about 17% of the world population. Development of drought-tolerant plant species represents a promising strategy to tackle these problems. Conventional crop improvement for enhanced drought tolerance has been ineffective, mainly due to limited germplasm resources and incompatibility in crosses between distantly related plant species. Recent advances in plant gene discovery and genetic transformation paved the road to generate stress-tolerant crops using transgenic approaches.

Despite the enormous economic and environmental significance, identification and characterization of plant genes that confer drought tolerance remains a challenge.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present inventions relate to compositions and methods for providing stress tolerant transgenic plants comprising a RING domain zinc-finger motif transcription factor protein. More particularly, the invention relates to compositions and methods comprising a RING-H2 domain transcription factor protein for providing drought and salt tolerant plants, in particular comprising a recombinant XERICO gene and protein.

The present invention is not limited to any particular plant gene sequence encoding a polypeptide comprising a RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain having effects on environmental tolerance. In some embodiments, the invention provides an expression vector construct comprising a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide at least 32% identical to SEQ ID NO:01, operably linked to a heterologous promoter, wherein said nucleic acid encodes a polypeptide comprising a RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain, a low complexity region, and a transmembrane domain, for increasing tolerance to abiotic stress in a plant. In other embodiments, said polypeptide is at least 56% identical to SEQ ID NO:01. In some embodiments, the present invention provides polypeptide sequences at least 32%, 35%, 36%, 38%, 40%, 41%, 45%, 50%, 51%, 55%, 56%, 58%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 81%, 85%, 86%, 89%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% (or more) identical to any of SEQ ID NO:01. In some embodiments, the present invention provides polypeptide fragments. In some embodiments, the present invention provides full-length polypeptides. In other embodiments, said RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain comprises SEQ ID NO:06 or SEQ ID NO:07.

In other embodiments, said RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain has at least a 40% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:03. In some embodiments, the present invention provides RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain polypeptide sequences at least 40%, 41%, 45%, 50%, 51%, 55%, 56%, 58%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 81%, 85%, 86%, 89%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% (or more) identical to any of SEQ ID NO:03. The present invention is not limited to any particular low complexity region. Indeed, a variety of low complexity regions are contemplated. In other embodiments, said low complexity region is selected from one or more of the group SEQ ID NOs:456-477. In other embodiments, said transmembrane region is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:478-492. In other embodiments, said polypeptide binds to a COP1-INTERACTING PROTEIN 8 SEQ ID NO:378 or a TUBBY-like protein 9 SEQ ID NO:380. In other embodiments, said abiotic stress is one or more of drought tolerance and salt tolerance. In other embodiments, said heterologous promoter is a eukaryotic promoter. In other embodiments, said heterologous promoter is a plant promoter. In other embodiments, said heterologous promoter is active in a plant. The expression vector construct, wherein said heterologous promoter is a yeast promoter, active in yeast. In other embodiments, said vector is a eukaryotic vector. In other embodiments, said eukaryotic vector is a plant vector. In other embodiments, said plant vector is a T-DNA vector. In other embodiments, said expression vector is a prokaryotic vector. In other embodiments, said plant is selected from the group consisting of Aizoaceae (iceplant family), Amaranthaceae (amaranth family), including Chenopodiaceae and Chenopodioideae, further including beet, goosefoot, quinoa, and spinach, Alliaceae, further comprising Allium sp., including onions (Allium cepa), chives (A. schoenoprasum), garlic (A. sativum) and leeks (A. porrum), Asteraceae or Compositae (daisy and sunflower family), Brassicaceae or Cruciferae (mustard family and cabbage family) including Brassica oleracea such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, collards, kale, further, Brassica rapa such as Bok choy (chinensis group), Chinese kale, Chinese cabbage (pekinensis group), rutabaga, seakale, Turnip (rapa group), radish, kohl rabi, rapini (ruvo group), flowering cabbage (parachinensis group) and Brassica napus (rape) rapeseed (such as oilseed rape, canola and others), mustard, horseradish, wasabi, watercress Arabidopsis thaliana, and Thellungiella Halophila, Cucurbitaceae (cucumber family) including melon, cucumber, calabash, squash, and luffa, Euphorbiaceae (spurge family) including manioc, castor bean, and the Para rubber tree, ornamental plants, such as poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima), Fabaceae or Leguminosae (pea family) including legumes and pulses, such as beans, peas, peanuts, soybeans, lentils, lupins, clover, alfalfa, Lotus corniculatus var. japonicus (Bird's-foot Trefoil, Birdsfoot Trefoil, Birdfoot Trefoil, or Bird's Foot Trefoil) cassia, and soybean, ornamental trees and shrubs such as Laburnum, Robinia, Gleditsia, Acacia, Mimosa, and Delonix, Malvaceae (mallow family) including Gossypium sp. such as cotton, Pinaceae (pine family) including conifers such as cedars, firs, hemlocks, larches, pines and spruces, Poaceae or Gramineae (grass family), Rosaceae (rose family), Solanaceae (nightshade family), Salicaceae (willow family), Scrophulariaceae, wherein Scrophulariaceae further comprises Orobanchaceae and Plantaginaceae, and Vitaceae (grape family). In some embodiments, the invention provides a transgenic plant comprising a heterologous nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide that is at least 32% identical to SEQ ID NO:01, wherein said polypeptide comprises a RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain, a low complexity region, and a transmembrane domain, for increasing tolerance to abiotic stress in a plant. In other embodiments, said polypeptide is at least 56% identical to SEQ ID NO:01. In some embodiments, the present invention provides polypeptide sequences at least 32%, 35%, 36%, 38%, 40%, 41%, 45%, 50%, 51%, 55%, 56%, 58%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 81%, 85%, 86%, 89%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% (or more) identical to any of SEQ ID NO:01. In some embodiments, the present invention provides polypeptide fragments. In some embodiments, the present invention provides full-length polypeptides. In other embodiments, said heterologous nucleic acid molecule is contained within the expression vector. In other embodiments, said RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain comprises SEQ ID NO:06 or SEQ ID NO:07. In other embodiments, said RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain has at least 40% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:03. In some embodiments, the present invention provides RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain polypeptide sequences at least 40%, 41%, 45%, 50%, 51%, 55%, 56%, 58%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 81%, 85%, 86%, 89%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% (or more) identical to any of SEQ ID NO:03. In other embodiments, said low complexity region is selected from one or more of the group SEQ ID NOs:376-397. In other embodiments, said transmembrane region is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:478-492. In other embodiments, said polypeptide binds to a COP1-INTERACTING PROTEIN 8 SEQ ID NO:378 or a TUBBY-like protein 9 SEQ ID NO:380. In other embodiments, said polypeptide alters expression of COP1-INTERACTING PROTEIN 8 SEQ ID NO: 378 or a TUBBY-like protein 9 SEQ ID NO:380. In other embodiments, said polypeptide alters function of COP1-INTERACTING PROTEIN 8 SEQ ID NO:378 or a TUBBY-like protein 9 SEQ ID NO:380. In other embodiments, said abiotic stress is one or more of drought tolerance and salt tolerance. In other embodiments, said plant is selected from the group consisting of Aizoaceae, Amaranthaceae, Alliaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Pinaceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae, Salicaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and Vitaceae. In other embodiments, said plant is selected from the group consisting of a crop plant, an herb plant, a turfgrass plant, an ornamental plant and a tree. In other embodiments, said plant is selected from the group consisting of Arabidopsis sp., Capsicum sp., Citrullus sp., Fragaria sp., Glycine sp., Gossypium sp., Helianthus sp., Hevea sp., Hordeum sp., Lactuca sp., Lycopersicon sp., Lotus sp. Oryza sp., Pinus sp., Picea sp., Ponciru sp., Solanum sp., Sorghum sp., Thellungiella sp., Triphysaria sp., Triticum sp., Vaccinium sp., and Zea species. The transgenic plant, wherein said crop plant is one or more of Arabidopsis sp., Capsicum sp., Citrullus sp., Fragaria sp., Glycine sp., Gossypium sp., Helianthus sp., Hevea sp., Hordeum sp., Lactuca sp., Lycopersicon sp., Medicago sp., Oryza sp., Ponciru sp., Solanum sp., Sorghum sp., Thellungiella sp., Trifolium sp., Triticum sp., Vaccinium sp., and Zea species. In other embodiments, said herb plant is a Triphysaria species. In other embodiments, said ornamental plant is a Lotus sp. or a Helianthus species. In other embodiments, said grass plant is one or more of a bromegrass, clover, alfalfa, timothy, orchard grass, bahiagrass, Bermudagrass, centipedegrass, St. Augustine grass, zoysiagrass, carpetgrass, centipedegrass, buffalograss, hurricanegrass, tall fescue and seashore paspalum. In other embodiments, said tree is one or more of a Hevea sp., Picea sp., Pinus sp., and Populus species. In a preferred embodiment said tree is a poplar or a hybrid poplar. In other embodiments, said transgenic plant is a seed. In other embodiments, said transgenic plant is a tiller. In other embodiments, said transgenic plant is a plant cell. In some embodiments, the invention provides a vector, comprising a first nucleic acid sequence encoding a nucleic acid product that interferes with the expression of a second nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide at least 32% identical to SEQ ID NO:01, wherein said polypeptide comprises a RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain, a low complexity region, and a transmembrane domain, for increasing tolerance to abiotic stress in a plant. In other embodiments, said polypeptide is at least 56% identical to SEQ ID NO:01. In some embodiments, the present invention provides polypeptide sequences at least 32%, 35%, 36%, 38%, 40%, 41%, 45%, 50%, 51%, 55%, 56%, 58%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 81%, 85%, 86%, 89%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% (or more) identical to any of SEQ ID NO:01. In some embodiments, the present invention provides polypeptide fragments. In some embodiments, the present invention provides full-length polypeptides. In other embodiments, said RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain comprises SEQ ID NO:06 or SEQ ID NO:07. In other embodiments, said nucleic acid product that interferes is an antisense sequence. In other embodiments, said nucleic acid product that interferes is a dsRNA that mediates RNA interference.

In some embodiments, the invention provides a method for altering the phenotype of a plant, comprising: a) providing; i) an expression vector construct comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide at least 32% identical to SEQ ID NO:01, wherein said polypeptide comprises a RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain, operably linked to a heterologous promoter, and ii) plant tissue; and b) transfecting the plant tissue with the vector so that the phenotype of a plant derived from said plant tissue is altered. In other embodiments, said polypeptide is at least 56% identical to SEQ ID NO:01. In some embodiments, the present invention provides polypeptide sequences at least 32%, 35%, 36%, 38%, 40%, 41%, 45%, 50%, 51%, 55%, 56%, 58%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 81%, 85%, 86%, 89%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% (or more) identical to any of SEQ ID NO:01. In some embodiments, the present invention provides polypeptide fragments. In some embodiments, the present invention provides full-length polypeptides. In other embodiments, said RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain comprises SEQ ID NO:06 or SEQ ID NO:07. In other embodiments, said RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain having at least a 40% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:03. In some embodiments, the present invention provides RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain polypeptide sequences at least 40%, 41%, 45%, 50%, 51%, 55%, 56%, 58%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 81%, 85%, 86%, 89%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% (or more) identical to any of SEQ ID NO:03. In other embodiments, said low complexity region is selected from one or more of the group SEQ ID NOs:456-477. In other embodiments, said transmembrane region is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:478-492. In other embodiments, said polypeptide binds to a COP1-INTERACTING PROTEIN 8 SEQ ID NO:289 or a TUBBY-like protein 9 SEQ ID NO:291. In other embodiments, said altered phenotype is altered environmental tolerance. In other embodiments, said altered environmental tolerance is altered abiotic stress. In other embodiments, said altered abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of water tolerance and salt tolerance. In other embodiments, said plant tissue comprises one or more of calli and primordial meristem. In other embodiments, said plant is selected from the group consisting of Aizoaceae, Amaranthaceae, Alliaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Pinaceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae, Salicaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and Vitaceae. In other embodiments, said plant is selected from the group consisting of a crop plant, an herb plant, a turfgrass plant, an ornamental plant and a tree. In other embodiments, said plant is selected from the group consisting of Arabidopsis sp., Capsicum sp., Citrullus sp., Fragaria sp., Glycine sp., Gossypium sp., Helianthus sp., Hevea sp., Hordeum sp., Lactuca sp., Lycopersicon sp., Lotus sp. Oryza sp., Pinus sp., Picea sp., Ponciru sp., Solanum sp., Sorghum sp., Thellungiella sp., Triphysaria sp., Triticum sp., Vaccinium sp., and Zea species. In other embodiments, said altered phenotype comprises altering the gene expression of one or more of a 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (SEQ ID NO:383), abscisic acid 8′-hydroxylase (SEQ ID NO:428), RD29a/COR78/LTI78 (SEQ ID NO:386), brassinolide (BL) 26-hydroxylase (SEQ ID NO:422); gibberellin 3-beta-dioxygenase (SEQ ID NO:424), CYP707A1 (SEQ ID NO:426), CYP707A2 (SEQ ID NO:428), CYP707A3 (SEQ ID NO:430), and CYP707A4 (SEQ ID NO:432).

In some embodiments, the invention provides a method for altering the phenotype of a plant, comprising: a) providing; i) an expression vector construct comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide at least 32% identical to SEQ ID NO:01 wherein said polypeptide comprises a RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain, for increasing tolerance to abiotic stress in a plant; and ii) plant tissue; and b) transfecting the plant tissue with the vector so that the phenotype of a plant derived from said plant tissue is altered. In other embodiments, said polypeptide is at least 56% identical to SEQ ID NO:01. In some embodiments, the present invention provides polypeptide sequences at least 32%, 35%, 36%, 38%, 40%, 41%, 45%, 50%, 51%, 55%, 56%, 58%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 81%, 85%, 86%, 89%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% (or more) identical to any of SEQ ID NO:01. In some embodiments, the present invention provides polypeptide fragments. In some embodiments, the present invention provides full-length polypeptides. In other embodiments, said RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain comprises SEQ ID NO:06 or SEQ ID NO:07. In other embodiments, said altered phenotype is altered environmental tolerance. In other embodiments, said altered environmental tolerance is altered abiotic stress. In other embodiments, said altered abiotic stress is selected from the group consisting of water tolerance and salt tolerance. In other embodiments, said plant tissue comprises one or more of calli and primordial meristem. In other embodiments, said RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain having at least a 40% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:03. In some embodiments, the present invention provides RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain polypeptide sequences at least 40%, 41%, 45%, 50%, 51%, 55%, 56%, 58%, 60%, 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, 81%, 85%, 86%, 89%, 90%, 95%, 98%, 99% (or more) identical to any of SEQ ID NO:03. In other embodiments, said low complexity region is selected from one or more of the group SEQ ID NOs:456-477. In other embodiments, said transmembrane region is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 478-492. In other embodiments, said polypeptide binds to a COP1-INTERACTING PROTEIN 8 SEQ ID NO:289 or a TUBBY-like protein 9 SEQ ID NO:291 In other embodiments, said plant is selected from the group consisting of Aizoaceae, Amaranthaceae, Alliaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Pinaceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae, Salicaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and Vitaceae. In other embodiments, said plant is selected from the group consisting of a crop plant, an herb plant, a turfgrass plant, an ornamental plant and a tree. In other embodiments, said plant is selected from the group consisting of Arabidopsis sp., Capsicum sp., Citrullus sp., Fragaria sp., Glycine sp., Gossypium sp., Helianthus sp., Hevea sp., Hordeum sp., Lactuca sp., Lycopersicon sp., Lotus sp. Oryza sp., Pinus sp., Picea sp., Ponciru sp., Solanum sp., Sorghum sp., Thellungiella sp., Triphysaria sp., Triticum sp., Vaccinium sp., and Zea species. In other embodiments, said altered phenotype comprises altering the gene expression of one or more of a 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (SEQ ID NO:383), abscisic acid 8′-hydroxylase (SEQ ID NO:428), RD29a/COR78/LTI78 (SEQ ID NO:386), brassinolide (BL) 26-hydroxylase (SEQ ID NO:422); gibberellin 3-beta-dioxygenase (SEQ ID NO:424), CYP707A1 (SEQ ID NO:426), CYP707A2 (SEQ ID NO:428), CYP707A3 (SEQ ID NO:430), and CYP707A4 (SEQ ID NO:432).

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 demonstrates that XERICO (SEQ ID NO:02) encodes a novel RING-H2 type zinc finger protein. (a) Structure of XERICO (SEQ ID NO:01) protein showing a transmembrane (TM) domain (SEQ ID NO:09), a low complexity serine rich domain (Ser-Rich) (SEQ ID NO:08), and a RING-H2 domain (SEQ ID NO:03). (b) Tissue specific expression of XERICO in Arabidopsis. RNA gel blot analysis was performed using 10 μg of total RNA from the specified tissues and hybridized with [³²P]-labeled gene specific probe. Ethidium bromide stained rRNA serves as a RNA loading control. (c) Analysis of time course expression of XERICO in response to various abiotic stresses using the publicly available gene expression profiles from AtGenExpress as published on the AtGenExpress website. Experimental data were obtained from 18-day old wild-type Arabidopsis seedlings subjected to various abiotic stress treatments. The error bars indicate the mean±S.E. (d) Northern blot analysis to validate the microarray results presented in (c). Treatments of abiotic stresses (indicated on left side) were performed on plants for up to 24 hours. RNA gel blot analysis was performed using 10 μg of total RNA and hybridized with [³²P]-labeled gene specific probe. Actin 8 probing serves as a RNA loading control (SEQ ID NO:455).

FIG. 2 demonstrates that upregulation of XERICO confers hypersensitivity to salt/osmotic stress during early seedling growth. (a) RNA gel blot analysis-showing upregulation of XERICO gene in three 35S::XERICO transgenic plants (labeled SS1-6, SS6-6 and SS8-3) compared to the vector control (wild-type) plants. Each lane was loaded with 10 μg of total RNA isolated from leaf tissue. The RNA blot was hybridized with [³²P]-labeled gene specific probe. Ethidium bromide stained rRNA was used as a RNA loading control. (b) Effects of NaCl and mannitol treatment on the early seedling growth of wild-type (WT) and 35S::XERICO plants. Photos were taken from seven-day old plants grown on MS nutrient media containing indicated chemicals. Scale bars represent 1 cm. Representative pictures of each treatment are shown. (c) Effects of low-potassium environment. Seedlings were grown for 7 days on MS nutrient media containing 10 mM LiCl (upper panel) and modified MS nutrient media containing 10 μM KCl (lower panel). Representative picture of each treatments were shown.

FIG. 3 demonstrates that abscisic acid (ABA) treatment inhibits germination and early seedling growth of 35S::XERICO plants. (a) Effects of ABA treatment on the early seedling growth of wild-type (WT) and three independent 35S::XERICO T3 homozygote lines. The plants were grown for 8-days on MS nutrient media with or without 0.1 μM ABA. Representative pictures of each treatment were shown. Scale bars indicate 1 cm. (b) Effects of ABA treatment on early seedling growth. Fresh weights of plants grown for 8-days on MS nutrient media containing different levels of ABA were measured. Asterisk indicates that no measurement was made due to germination failure. The error bars indicate the mean±SE from three independent experiments. (c) Effect of ABA treatment on seed germination. Seeds were plated on media containing various concentrations of ABA. Seedlings with fully emerged radicles (>1 mm) were counted. The error bars indicate the mean±SE of approximately 70 seeds from three independent experiments. (d) Differential sensitivity of seedling development to ABA between wild-type (black bar) and 35S::XERICO plants (SS8-3 line) (gray bar). The numbers shown in Y-axis are the percentages of 5-days-old seedlings with cotyledon openings over total number of seeds planted in the experiment (c).

FIG. 4 demonstrates that upregulation of XERICO modulates the expression of ABA regulated genes. (a) RNA gel blot analysis showing a response to ABA. Wild-type (WT) and 35S::XERICO plants were grown on MS nutrient agar media for 10 days and then treated with 10 μM of ABA for up to 24 hour. Total RNA was isolated at the indicated times after treatment. Each lane was loaded with 10 μg total RNA. The RNA blot was hybridized with [³²P]-labeled gene specific probes for AtNCED3 (SEQ ID NO:452), AtCYP707A2 (SEQ ID NO:428) and RD29a (SEQ ID NO:386). Probing with Actin 8 (SEQ ID NO:455) was used as a RNA loading control. (b) RNA gel blot analysis in response to drought treatment. Wild-type (WT) and 35S::XERICO plants were grown on MS medium for 14 days and then dehydrated (see, EXAMPLE I).

FIG. 5 demonstrates that upregulation of XERICO increases cellular ABA level. ABA contents were measured from wild-type (WT) and three independent 35S::XERICO T3 homozygote lines grown for 14-days and then subjected to drought treatment for 6 hour (see, EXAMPLE I). The error bars indicate the mean±S.D. from three independent experiments.

FIG. 6 demonstrates that over-expression of XERICO enhances drought tolerance in Arabidopsis. (a) Drought tolerance: Thirty-days-old soil grown wild-type and 35S::XERICO plants (SS8-3) were kept in a growth chamber without further watering. The photographs were taken 10 days after the last watering. A representative picture is shown. (b) Drought tolerance of 35S::XERICO plants (SS8-3) in a single pot with wild-type plants. The exemplary photographs were taken 8 days after the last watering. A representative picture is shown. (c) Differential transpirational water loss between wild-type and 35S::XERICO plants. Detached leaves from 25-day-old plants grown on soil were incubated on a bench and fresh weights were measured at the indicated time intervals. Water loss was calculated from the decrease of fresh weights compared to time-0. The error bars indicate the mean±SE from three independent experiments.

FIG. 7 demonstrates that XERICO interacts in vivo with AtUBC8 and AtTLP9 in yeast. Interactions of XERICO with AtUBC8 and AtTLP9 were shown by His (Histadine) and Ade (Adenine) auxotrophic growth of yeast. Yeast cells (AH109) transformed with the plasmid pairs, XERICO with AtUBC8 and XERICO with AtTLP9, were cultured on minimal synthetic (SD) dropout medium for nutritional selection (minimal SD base (providing a nitrogen base, a carbon source, and in some cases, ammonium sulfate) with a stock of “dropout” (DO) solution that contains a specific mixture of amino acids and nucleosides; Clontech Laboratories, Inc.), SD-W-L-[SD media without W, Trp, Tryptophan, and L, Leu, Leucine, His/Leu DO Supplement Clontech Laboratories, Inc., Catalog Number 8609-1]; SD-W-L-H-Ade, [SD media without W, L, H, His, Histidine and Ade, Adenine, Clontech Laboratories, Inc., Catalog Number 8619-1).

FIG. 8 demonstrates stomata openings in wild-type and closure in 35S::XERICO plants. (a) Pictures showing stomata openings in wild-type and closure in 35S::XERICO plants. Leaf samples were taken at 11:00 AM from 4-week-old soil-grown plants and applied immediately the commercial nail polisher on the lower epidermis. The prepared epidermal strips were observed under a Nikon Diaphot, inverse microscope. Pictures were taken with a Sony MAVICA digital camera. Representative pictures were shown. Scale bars, 100 μm. (b) Measurement of stomatal aperture of wild-type and 35S::XERICO plants. The apertures of the stomatal pores were measured by using ‘the measure tool’ of Adobe PhotoShop 5.5, which calculates the distance between any two points in the work area, from pictures taken above. Error bars represent standard errors (n=68).

FIG. 9 demonstrates that transcriptional co-regulation of the XERICO (see, for e.g., SEQ ID NO:01) and AtTLP9 (see, for e.g., SEQ ID NO:381) (a) Plant development and organ-specific gene expression of XERICO and AtTLP9. Genechip data was collected from the AtGenExpress database available hosted by The Arabidopsis Functional Genomics Network (http://web.unifrankfurt.de/fb15/botanik/mcb/AFGN/atgenex.htm) and reconstructed for providing information for the present invention. (b) Correlation of gene expression by ‘Gene Correlator’ comparing 1122 genechip data of AtGenExpress. Left panel, XERICO and AtTLP9; Right panel, XERICO and RBCS (see, for e.g., SEQ ID NO:398) as a negative control. Each spot indicates individual genechip data. Red spot, both present (p-value<0.04); Green spot, both absent (p-value>0.06); Blue spot, X-axis gene present no Y-axis gene; Light blue spot, Y-axis gene present no Y-axis gene. Pearson's correlation coefficient (r²) is given. Data were collected using the GENEVESTIGATOR website (Zimmermann et al. (2004) Plant Physiol. 136:2621-2632; herein incorporated by reference in its entirety).

FIG. 10 shows full-length and partial nucleic acid sequences and amino acid sequences encoding plant RING zinc finger proteins, putative RING zinc finger proteins, RING-like proteins, and RING motifs (SEQ ID NOs:1-375).

FIG. 11 shows a 35S promoter sequence SEQ ID NO:376, a B-Box motif SEQ ID NO:377, genes and their encoded products that are regulated and/or associated with upregulation of RING zinc finger proteins in plants (SEQ ID NOs:378-436).

FIG. 12 shows primers and probes of the present invention (SEQ ID NOs:437-455).

DEFINITIONS

To facilitate an understanding of the present invention, a number of terms and phrases are defined below:

The use of the article “a” or “an” is intended to include one or more.

The term “host cell” refers to any cell capable of replicating and/or transcribing and/or translating a heterologous gene. Thus, a “host cell” refers to any eukaryotic or prokaryotic cell (e.g., plant cells, algal cells such as C. reinhardtii, bacterial cells such as yeast cells, E. coli, insect cells, etc.), whether located in vitro or in vivo. For example, a host cell may be located in a transgenic plant, or located in a plant part or part of a plant tissue or in cell culture. The terms “eukaryotic” and “eukaryote” are used in it broadest sense. It includes, but is not limited to, any organisms containing membrane bound nuclei and membrane bound organelles. Examples of eukaryotes include but are not limited to plants, yeast, animals, alga, diatoms, and fungi. The terms “prokaryote” and “prokaryotic” are used in it broadest sense. It includes, but is not limited to, any organisms without a distinct nucleus. Examples of prokaryotes include but are not limited to bacteria, blue-green algae, archaebacteria, actinomycetes and mycoplasma. In some embodiments, a host cell is any microorganism. As used herein the term “microorganism” refers to microscopic organisms and taxonomically related macroscopic organisms within the categories of yeast, algae, bacteria, and fungi (including lichens).

As used herein, terms defined in the singular are intended to include those terms defined in the plural and vice versa.

As used herein, the terms “Really Interesting New Gene” “RING” and “RING-finger” refer to nucleic acids that code for an proteins comprising any of a specialized type of Zinc (Zn) finger of 40 to 60 amino acid residues that binds at least two atoms of zinc further defined by a “RING zinc-finger motif transcription domain” specifically comprising a “cross-brace” motif C-X2-C-X(9-39)-C-X(1-3)-H-X(2-3)-(N/C/H)-X2-C-X(4-48)C-X2-C (SEQ ID NO:05). A RING finger domain consists of either a RING-H2 type domain comprising a C3H2C3-type domain (see, for e.g., SEQ ID NO:06 or 07) or a RING-HC type domain comprising a C3HC4-type domain based upon a cysteine/histidine pattern in relation to whether a H or C occupies the 5th position of the domain motif. A further subset of RINGs comprises a B-Box motif that refers to a C-X2-H-X7-C-X7-C-X2-C-H-X2-H; see, for e.g., SEQ ID NO:377 (see, for e.g., Saurin et al. (1996) June; 21(6):208-14 and Kipreos and Pagano (2000) Genome Biol. 1 (5):REVIEWS3002. Epub 2000 Nov. 10; herein incorporated by reference) and/or an “F-box” motif and “motif in cyclin F” comprising approximately 50 amino acids that functions as a site of protein-protein interaction (see, for e.g., Kipreos and Pagano (2000) Genome Biol. 1 (5):REVIEWS3002, Epub 2000 Nov. 10; herein incorporated by reference). F-box proteins comprise a wide range of secondary motifs including zinc fingers, cyclin domains, leucine zippers, ring fingers, tetratricopeptide (TPR) repeats, and proline-rich regions.

As used herein, the term “XERICO” refers to Arabidopsis thaliana gene AT2G04240 and a protein encoded by AT2G04240. As used herein for the present invention the coding region of AT2G04240 comprises an expressed RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain, also referred to as a C3H2C3-type and/or a cd00162 type RING.

As used herein, the term “zinc-finger” and “ZFP” refers to nucleic acid coding for and the translated protein thereof wherein the protein in predicted to comprise a putative finger-shaped fold created by the binding of specific amino acids in the protein to at least one zinc atom. Zinc-finger proteins regulate the expression of genes as well as functioning in nucleic acid recognition, reverse transcription, virus assembly and protein-protein interactions.

The term “SCF complex” “Skp-Cullin-F-box” refers to a group of proteins comprising “Skp1,” “Cdc53/Cul1,” “Roc1/Rbx1/Hrt1” and “F-box” proteins comprising a class of ubiquitin ligase, i.e. “ubiquitin-protein isopeptide ligase (E3)” proteins required for the degradation of key regulatory proteins involved in one or more of cell cycle progression, development, and signal transduction.

The terms, “ABA,” and “abscisic acid” refer to molecules that induce “ABA-responsive proteins” comprising “abscisic acid responsive elements” and “ABA responsive elements” that refer to DNA regions of in the promoter region that bind to ABA of genes that respond to ABA mediated environmental stress.

The term “abiotic stress” refers to a nonliving environmental factors such as drought, salt, cold, excessive heat, high winds, etc., that can have harmful effects upon plants. For the purposes of the present invention, examples of abiotic stress specifically include drought and salt factors.

The terms “altered environmental tolerance” and “altering environmental tolerance” refer to any changes in a plant's ability to tolerate an environmental abiotic stress. The terms “altered abiotic stress” and “altering abiotic stress” refer to any changes in abiotic tolerance such as an increased tolerance to an abiotic stress, such as “dry conditions” or “drought” and “high saline” or “salt.” The terms “altered drought and/or salt tolerance” and “altering drought and/or salt tolerance” refer to any changes in drought and/or salt tolerance and changes in environmental factors such as low-potassium conditions/treatments.

As used herein, the term “hypersensitivity” refers to altered reactivity to an abiotic stress, for example, hypersensitivity to an environmental factor may be a pathological sensitivity such as reduced growth or death in response to salt or water deprivation such as demonstrated herein to salt/osmotic stress during early seedling growth.

For the purposes of the present invention, an “increasing” or “increased” tolerance refers to an increase over a control, such as a wild-type control or an nontransformed control plant or nontransformed plant part, such as when comparing a transgenic plant or leaf from a transgenic plant of the present invention to a closely related nontransformed wild-type plant or a leaf from a nontransformed wild-type plant. Examples include increasing expression of XERICO, increasing ABA content of plants under drought conditions, increasing the capability of a plant to continue growing under environmental conditions such as extreme dryness and higher salt exposure, such as using water comprising a higher than usual salinity, see, EXAMPLES.

The term “transgenic” when used in reference to a plant or leaf or fruit or seed for example a “transgenic plant,” transgenic leaf,” “transgenic fruit,” “transgenic seed,” or a “transgenic host cell” refers to a plant or leaf or fruit or seed that contains at least one heterologous or foreign gene in one or more of its cells. The term “transgenic plant material” refers broadly to a plant, a plant structure, a plant tissue, a plant seed or a plant cell that contains at least one heterologous gene in one or more of its cells. In one embodiment, transgenic seedlings of the present invention may express XERICO at increased levels over wild-type seedlings (FIG. 2 a).

The terms “transgenic” when used in reference to a plant or leaf or fruit or seed or plant part for example a “transgenic plant,” “transgenic leaf,” “transgenic fruit,” “transgenic seed,” and a “transgenic host cell” refer to a plant or leaf or fruit or seed or part or cell that contains at least one heterologous or foreign gene in one or more of its cells. The term “transgenic plant material” refers broadly to a plant, a plant structure, a plant tissue, a plant seed or a plant cell that contains at least one heterologous gene in one or more of its cells. The term “portion” when used in reference to a protein (as in “a portion of a given protein”) refers to fragments of that protein. The fragments may range in size from four amino acid residues to the entire amino sequence minus one amino acid.

The term “transgene” refers to a foreign gene that is placed into an organism or host cell by the process of transfection. The term “foreign gene” or heterologous gene refers to any nucleic acid (e.g., gene sequence) that is introduced into the genome of an organism or tissue of an organism or a host cell by experimental manipulations, such as those described herein, and may include gene sequences found in that organism so long as the introduced gene does not reside in the same location, as does the naturally occurring gene.

The terms “transformants” and “transformed cells” include the primary transformed cell and cultures derived from that cell without regard to the number of transfers. Resulting progeny may not be precisely identical in DNA content, due to deliberate or inadvertent mutations. Mutant progeny that have the same functionality as screened for in the originally transformed cell are included in the definition of transformants. The term “Agrobacterium” refers to a soil-borne, Gram-negative, rod-shaped phytopathogenic bacterium that causes crown gall. Agrobacterium is a representative genus of a soil-borne, Gram-negative, rod-shaped phytopathogenic bacterium family Rhizobiaceae. Its species are responsible for plant tumors such as crown gall and hairy root disease. In the dedifferentiated tissue characteristic of the tumors, amino acid derivatives known as opines are produced and catabolized. The bacterial genes responsible for expression of opines are a convenient source of control elements for chimeric expression cassettes. Agrobacterium tumefaciens causes crown gall disease by transferring some of its DNA to the plant host. The transferred DNA (T-DNA) is stably integrated into the plant genome, where its expression leads to the synthesis of plant hormones and thus to the tumorous growth of the cells. A putative macromolecular complex forms in the process of T-DNA transfer out of the bacterial cell into the plant cell.

The term “Agrobacterium” includes, but is not limited to, the strains Agrobacterium tumefaciens, (which typically causes crown gall in infected plants), and Agrobacterium rhizogens (which causes hairy root disease in infected host plants). Infection of a plant cell with Agrobacterium generally results in the production of opines (e.g., nopaline, agropine, octopine etc.) by the infected cell. Thus, Agrobacterium strains which cause production of nopaline (e.g., strain GV3101, LBA4301, C58, A208, etc.) are referred to as “nopaline-type” Agrobacteria; Agrobacterium strains which cause production of octopine (e.g., strain LBA4404, Ach5, B6, etc.) are referred to as “octopine-type” Agrobacteria; and Agrobacterium strains which cause production of agropine (e.g., strain EHA105, EHA01, A281, etc.) are referred to as “agropine-type” Agrobacteria.

As used herein, the term “wild-type” when made in reference to a gene refers to a functional gene common throughout an outbred population. As used herein, the term “wild-type” when made in reference to a gene product refers to a functional gene product common throughout an outbred population. A functional wild-type gene is that which is most frequently observed in a population and is thus arbitrarily designated the “normal” or “wild-type” form of the gene.

As used herein, the term “modified” or “mutant” when made in reference to a gene or to a gene product refers, respectively, to a gene or to a gene product which displays modifications in sequence and/or functional properties (i.e., altered characteristics) when compared to the wild-type gene or gene product. Thus, the terms “variant” and “mutant” when used in reference to a nucleotide sequence refer to an nucleic acid sequence that differs by one or more nucleotides from another, usually related nucleotide acid sequence. A “variation” is a difference between two different nucleotide sequences; typically, one sequence is a reference sequence.

The terms “variant” and “mutant” when used in reference to a polypeptide refer to an amino acid sequence that differs by one or more amino acids from another, usually related polypeptide. The variant may have “conservative” changes, wherein a substituted amino acid has similar structural or chemical properties. One type of conservative amino acid substitution refers to the interchangeability of residues having similar side chains. For example, a group of amino acids having aliphatic side chains is glycine, alanine, valine, leucine, and isoleucine; a group of amino acids having aliphatic-hydroxyl side chains is serine and threonine; a group of amino acids having amide-containing side chains is asparagine and glutamine; a group of amino acids having aromatic side chains is phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan; a group of amino acids having basic side chains is lysine, arginine, and histidine; and a group of amino acids having sulfur-containing side chains is cysteine and methionine. Preferred conservative amino acids substitution groups are: valine-leucine-isoleucine, phenylalanine-tyrosine, lysine-arginine, alanine-valine, and asparagine-glutamine. More rarely, a variant may have “non-conservative” changes (e.g., replacement of a glycine with a tryptophan). Similar minor variations may also include amino acid deletions or insertions (i.e., additions), or both. Guidance in determining which and how many amino acid residues may be substituted, inserted or deleted without abolishing biological activity may be found using computer programs well known in the art, for example, DNAStar software. Variants can be tested in functional assays. Preferred variants have less than 10%, and preferably less than 5%, and still more preferably less than 2% changes (whether substitutions, deletions, and so on). Thus, nucleotide sequences of the present invention can be engineered in order to introduce or alter a XERICO coding sequence for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to initiating the production of environmental stress tolerance; alterations that modify the cloning, processing and/or expression of the gene product (such alterations include inserting new restriction sites and changing codon preference), as well as varying the protein function activity (such changes include but are not limited to differing binding kinetics to nucleic acid and/or protein or protein complexes or nucleic acid/protein complexes, differing binding inhibitor affinities or effectiveness, differing reaction kinetics, varying subcellular localization, and varying protein processing and/or stability).

The term “fusion” when used in reference to a polypeptide refers to a chimeric protein containing a protein of interest joined to an exogenous protein fragment (the fusion partner). The term “chimera” when used in reference to a polypeptide refers to the expression product of two or more coding sequences obtained from different genes, that have been cloned together and that, after translation, act as a single polypeptide sequence. Chimeric polypeptides are also referred to as “hybrid” polypeptides. The coding sequences include those obtained from the same or from different species of organisms. The fusion partner may serve various functions, including enhancement of solubility of the polypeptide of interest, as well as providing an “affinity tag” to allow purification of the recombinant fusion polypeptide from a host cell or from a supernatant or from both. If desired, the fusion partner may be removed from the protein of interest after or during purification.

As used herein, the term “plant” is used in it broadest sense. It includes, but is not limited to, any species of grass (e.g. turf grass), ornamental or decorative, crop or cereal, fodder or forage, fruit or vegetable, fruit plant or vegetable plant, herb plant, woody plant, flower plant or tree. It is not meant to limit a plant to any particular structure. It also refers to a unicellular plant (e.g. microalga) and a plurality of plant cells that are largely differentiated into a colony (e.g. volvox) or a structure that is present at any stage of a plant's development. Such structures include, but are not limited to, a seed, a tiller, a sprig, a stolen, a plug, a rhizome, a shoot, a stem, a leaf, a flower petal, a fruit, et cetera.

The term “plant tissue” includes differentiated and undifferentiated tissues of plants including those present in roots, shoots, leaves, pollen, seeds and tumors, as well as cells in culture (e.g., single cells, protoplasts, embryos, callus, etc.). Plant tissue may be in planta, in organ culture, tissue culture, or cell culture.

As used herein, the term “plant part” as used herein refers to a plant structure or a plant tissue, for example, pollen, an ovule, a tissue, a pod, a seed, a leaf and a cell. Plant parts may comprise one or more of a tiller, plug, rhizome, sprig, stolen, meristem, crown, and the like. The term includes, but is not limited to any species of plant used as a feed for animals or birds, or fish, or reptiles, or marine animals. In some embodiments of the present invention transgenic plants are crop plants. The terms “crop” and “crop plant” is used herein its broadest sense. The term includes, but is not limited to, any species of plant or alga edible by humans or used as a feed for animals or fish or marine animals, or consumed by humans, or used by humans (natural pesticides), or viewed by humans (flowers) or any plant or alga used in industry or commerce or education. Indeed, a variety of crop plants are contemplated, including but not limited to soybean, barley, sorgham, rice, corn, wheat, tomato, potato, pepper, onions, brassica sp., melons, cotton, turf grass, sunflower, herbs and trees.

For the purposes of the present invention, family assignment of a plant is based upon a combination of sequence identity, phylogeny and gene organization (as described herein).

As used herein, the term plant cell “compartments or organelles” is used in its broadest sense. As used herein, the term includes but is not limited to, the endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, trans Golgi network, plastids, sarcoplasmic reticulum, glyoxysomes, mitochondrial, chloroplast, thylakoid membranes and nuclear membranes, and the like.

As used herein, the term “trait” in reference to a plant refers to an observable and/measurable characteristics of an organism, such as drought tolerance in a plant or microbe. As used herein, the term “agronomic trait” and “economically significant trait” refers to any selected trait that increases the commercial value of a plant part, for example a preferred yield, a oil content, protein content, seed protein content, seed size, seed color, seed coat thickness, seed sugar content, seed free amino acid content, seed germination rate, seed texture, seed fiber content, food-grade quality, hilum color, seed yield, color of a plant part, drought resistance, water resistance, cold weather resistance, hot weather resistance, and growth in a particular hardiness zone.

The terms “leaf” and “leaves” refer to a usually flat, green structure of a plant where photosynthesis and transpiration take place and that grow attached to a stem or branch.

The terms “cotyledon,” “true leaf,” and “seed leaf” refers to any one of the first leaves to appear after germination (there may be one, such as a monocotyledon, two, such a dicotyledoen or more) and the foliar portion of the embryo as found in the seed. The term “hypocotyl” refers to a part of the stem of an embryo or young seedling below the cotyledons.

As used herein, “stoma” and “stomata” refers to an orifice in the epidermis of a leaf communicating with internal air cavities and a pore in the wall of a plant epidermis surrounded by special guard-cells.

As used herein, “aerial” and “aerial parts of Arabidopsis plants” refers to any plant part that is above water in aquatic plants or any part of a terrestrial plant part found above ground level.

The terms “radicle” and “radicles” refer to “rootlets emerging from the sides and base of the stem and the end of a plant embryo which gives rise to the first root. A radicle may also comprise a “rhizoid” which refers to a cellular outgrowth of a plant that usually aids in anchoring to the surface and increasing surface area to acquire water or nutrients.

The terms “calli” and “callus” refer to a tough, often hairy, swelling at the base or insertion of the lemma. The term “lemma” refers to the lower of the two bracts enclosing the flower in the spikelet of grasses. The term “bract” refers to a leaf from the axil of which a flower arises. The term “axil” refers to the angle between a branch or leaf and the stem from which it grows. The term “inflorescence” refers to a flowering part of a plant.

The term “meristem” refers to undifferentiated tissue from which new cells are formed, e.g., the tips of roots or stems; the growing tip.

The term “meristem cloning” refers to artificial propagation of a plant using cells taken from the meristem of a parent plant and yielding genetically identical offspring.

The term “stem” refers to a main ascending axis of a plant.

The term “tiller” refers to a portion of a plant where a lateral stem (or shoot), usually erect, develops from the central crown, often used for propagation of grass plants. Also refers to the branch or shoot that originates at a basal node.

The term “variety” refers to a biological classification for an intraspecific group or population, that can be distinguished from the rest of the species by any characteristic (for example morphological, physiological, cytological, etc.). A variety may originate in the wild but can also be produced through selected breeding (for example, see, cultivar).

The terms “cultivar,” “cultivated variety,” and “cv” refer to a group of cultivated plants distinguished by any characteristic (for example morphological, physiological, cytological, etc.) that when reproduced sexually or asexually, retain their distinguishing features to produce a cultivated variety.

The term “seed” refers to a ripened ovule, consisting of the embryo and a casing.

The term “propagation” refers to the process of producing new plants, either by vegetative means involving the rooting or grafting of pieces of a plant, or by sowing seeds. The terms “vegetative propagation” and “asexual reproduction” refer to the ability of plants to reproduce without sexual reproduction, by producing new plants from existing vegetative structures that are clones, i.e., plants that are identical in all attributes to the mother plant and to one another. For example, the division of a clump, rooting of proliferations, or cutting of mature crowns can produce a new plant.

The terms “tissue culture” and “micropropagation” refer to a form of asexual propagation undertaken in specialized laboratories, in which clones of plants are produced from small cell clusters from very small plant parts (e.g. buds, nodes, leaf segments, root segments, etc.), grown aseptically (free from any microorganism) in a container where the environment and nutrition can be controlled.

The term “gene” refers to a nucleic acid (e.g., DNA or RNA) sequence that comprises coding sequences necessary for the production of an RNA, or a polypeptide or its precursor (e.g., proinsulin). A functional polypeptide can be encoded by a full-length coding sequence or by any portion of the coding sequence as long as the desired activity or functional properties (e.g., enzymatic activity, ligand binding, signal transduction, etc.) of the polypeptide are retained. The term “portion” when used in reference to a gene refers to fragments of that gene. The fragments may range in size from a few nucleotides to the entire gene sequence minus one nucleotide. The term “a nucleotide comprising at least a portion of a gene” may comprise fragments of the gene or the entire gene. The term “cDNA” refers to a nucleotide copy of the “messenger RNA” or “mRNA” for a gene. In some embodiments, cDNA is derived from the mRNA. In some embodiments, cDNA is derived from genomic sequences. In some embodiments, cDNA is derived from EST sequences. In some embodiments, cDNA is derived from assembling portions of coding regions extracted from a variety of BACs, contigs, Scaffolds and the like.

The term “gene” encompasses the coding regions of a structural gene and includes sequences located adjacent to the coding region on both the 5′ and 3′ ends for a distance of about 1 kb on either end such that the gene corresponds to the length of the full-length mRNA. The sequences which are located 5′ of the coding region and which are present on the mRNA are referred to as 5′ non-translated sequences. The sequences which are located 3′ or downstream of the coding region and which are present on the mRNA are referred to as 3′ non-translated sequences.

The term “gene” encompasses both cDNA and genomic forms of a gene. A genomic form or clone of a gene contains the coding region termed “exon” or “expressed regions” or “expressed sequences” interrupted with non-coding sequences termed “introns” or “intervening regions” or “intervening sequences.” Introns are segments of a gene that are transcribed into nuclear RNA (hnRNA); introns may contain regulatory elements such as enhancers. Introns are removed or “spliced out” from the nuclear or primary transcript; introns therefore are absent in the messenger RNA (mRNA) transcript. The mRNA functions during translation to specify the sequence or order of amino acids in a nascent polypeptide.

In addition to containing introns, genomic forms of a gene may also include sequences located on both the 5′ and 3′ end of the sequences that are present on the RNA transcript. These sequences are referred to as “flanking” sequences or regions (these flanking sequences are located 5′ or 3′ to the non-translated sequences present on the mRNA transcript). The 5′ flanking region may contain regulatory sequences such as promoters and enhancers that control or influence the transcription of the gene. The 3′ flanking region may contain sequences that direct the termination of transcription, posttranscriptional cleavage and polyadenylation.

The terms “allele” and “alleles” refer to each version of a gene for a same locus that has more than one sequence. For example, there are multiple alleles for eye color at the same locus. The terms “recessive,” “recessive gene,” and “recessive phenotype” refer to an allele that has a phenotype when two alleles for a certain locus are the same as in “homozygous” or as in “homozygote” and then partially or fully loses that phenotype when paired with a more dominant allele as when two alleles for a certain locus are different as in “heterozygous” or in “heterozygote.” The terms “dominant,” “dominant allele,” and “dominant phenotype” refer to an allele that has an effect to suppress the expression of the other allele in a heterozygous (having one dominant allele and one recessive allele) condition.

The term “heterologous” when used in reference to a gene or nucleic acid refers to a gene that has been manipulated in some way. For example, a heterologous gene includes a gene from one species introduced into another species. A heterologous gene also includes a gene native to an organism that has been altered in some way (e.g., mutated, added in multiple copies, linked to a non-native promoter or enhancer sequence, etc.). Heterologous genes may comprise plant gene sequences that comprise cDNA forms of a plant gene; the cDNA sequences may be expressed in either a sense (to produce mRNA) or anti-sense orientation (to produce an anti-sense RNA transcript that is complementary to the mRNA transcript). Heterologous genes are distinguished from endogenous plant genes in that the heterologous gene sequences are typically joined to nucleotide sequences comprising regulatory elements such as promoters that are not found naturally associated with the gene for the protein encoded by the heterologous gene or with plant gene sequences in the chromosome, or are associated with portions of the chromosome not found in nature (e.g., genes expressed in loci where the gene is not normally expressed).

The terms “nucleic acid sequence,” “nucleotide sequence of interest” or “nucleic acid sequence of interest” refer to any nucleotide sequence (e.g., RNA or DNA), the manipulation of which may be deemed desirable for any reason (e.g., treat disease, confer improved qualities, etc.), by one of ordinary skill in the art. Such nucleotide sequences include, but are not limited to, coding sequences of structural genes (e.g., reporter genes, selection marker genes, oncogenes, drug resistance genes, growth factors, etc.), and non-coding regulatory sequences which do not encode an mRNA or protein product (e.g., promoter sequence, polyadenylation sequence, termination sequence, enhancer sequence, etc.).

The term “structural” when used in reference to a gene or to a nucleotide or nucleic acid sequence refers to a gene and/or A nucleotide or nucleic acid sequence whose ultimate expression product is a protein (such as an enzyme or a structural protein), an rRNA, an sRNA, a tRNA, and the like.

The term “oligonucleotide” refers to a molecule comprised of two or more deoxyribonucleotides or ribonucleotides, preferably more than three, and usually more than ten. The exact size will depend on many factors, which in turn depends on the ultimate function or use of the oligonucleotide. The oligonucleotide may be generated in any manner, including chemical synthesis, DNA replication, reverse transcription, or a combination thereof.

The term “polynucleotide” refers to refers to a molecule comprised of several deoxyribonucleotides or ribonucleotides, and is used interchangeably with oligonucleotide. Typically, oligonucleotide refers to shorter lengths, and polynucleotide refers to longer lengths, of nucleic acid sequences.

The term “an oligonucleotide (or polypeptide) having a nucleotide sequence encoding a gene” or “a nucleic acid sequence encoding” a specified polypeptide refers to a nucleic acid sequence comprising the coding region of a gene or in other words the nucleic acid sequence which encodes a gene product. The coding region may be present in a cDNA, genomic DNA or RNA form. When present in a DNA form, the oligonucleotide may be single-stranded (i.e., the sense strand) or double-stranded. Suitable control elements such as enhancers/promoters, splice junctions, polyadenylation signals, etc., may be placed in close proximity to the coding region of the gene if needed to permit proper initiation of transcription and/or correct processing of the primary RNA transcript. Alternatively, the coding region utilized in the expression vectors of the present invention may contain endogenous enhancers, exogenous promoters, splice junctions, intervening sequences, polyadenylation signals, etc., or a combination of both endogenous and exogenous control elements.

As used herein, the term “exogenous promoter” refers to a promoter in operable combination with a coding region wherein the promoter is not the promoter naturally associated with the coding region in the genome of an organism. The promoter which is naturally associated or linked to a coding region in the genome is referred to as the “endogenous promoter” for that coding region.

The terms “complementary” and “complementarity” refer to polynucleotides (i.e., a sequence of nucleotides) related by the base-pairing rules. For example, for the sequence “A-G-T,” is complementary to the sequence “T-C-A.” Complementarity may be “partial,” in which only some of the nucleic acids' bases are matched according to the base pairing rules. Or, there may be “complete” or “total” complementarity between the nucleic acids. The degree of complementarity between nucleic acid strands has significant effects on the efficiency and strength of hybridization between nucleic acid strands. This is of particular importance in amplification reactions, as well as detection methods that depend upon binding between nucleic acids.

The terms “EST” and “expressed sequence tag” refer to a unique stretch of DNA within a coding region of a gene; approximately 200 to 600 base pairs in length. The term “recombinant” when made in reference to a nucleic acid molecule refers to a nucleic acid molecule that is comprised of segments of nucleic acid joined together by means of molecular biological techniques. The term “recombinant” when made in reference to a protein or a polypeptide refers to a protein molecule that is expressed using a recombinant nucleic acid molecule.

The terms “protein,” “polypeptide,” “peptide,” “encoded product,” “amino acid sequence,” are used interchangeably to refer to compounds comprising amino acids joined via peptide bonds and a “protein” encoded by a gene is not limited to the amino acid sequence encoded by the gene, but includes post-translational modifications of the protein. Where the term “amino acid sequence” is recited herein to refer to an amino acid sequence of a protein molecule, the term “amino acid sequence” and like terms, such as “polypeptide” or “protein” are not meant to limit the amino acid sequence to the complete, native amino acid sequence associated with the recited protein molecule. Furthermore, an “amino acid sequence” can be deduced from the nucleic acid sequence encoding the protein. The deduced amino acid sequence from a coding nucleic acid sequence includes sequences which are derived from the deduced amino acid sequence and modified by post-translational processing, where modifications include but not limited to glycosylation, hydroxylations, phosphorylations, and amino acid deletions, substitutions, and additions. Thus, an amino acid sequence comprising a deduced amino acid sequence is understood to include post-translational modifications of the encoded and deduced amino acid sequence. The term “X” may represent any amino acid.

The terms “homolog,” “homologue,” “homologous,” and “homology” when used in reference to amino acid sequence or nucleic acid sequence or a protein or a polypeptide refers to a degree of sequence identity to a given sequence, or to a degree of similarity between conserved regions, or to a degree of similarity between three-dimensional structures or to a degree of similarity between the active site, or to a degree of similarity between the mechanism of action, or to a degree of similarity between functions. In some embodiments, a homologue has a greater than 30% sequence identity to a given sequence. In some embodiments, a homologue has a greater than 40% sequence identity to a given sequence. In some embodiments, a homologue has a greater than 60% sequence identity to a given sequence. In some embodiments, a homologue has a greater than 70% sequence identity to a given sequence. In some embodiments, a homologue has a greater than 90% sequence identity to a given sequence. In some embodiments, a homologue has a greater than 95% sequence identity to a given sequence. In some embodiments, homology is determined by comparing internal conserved sequences to a given sequence. In some embodiments, homology is determined by comparing designated conserved functional and/or structural regions, for example a RING domain, a low complexity region or a transmembrane region. In some embodiments, homology is determined by comparing designated conserved “motif” regions, such as a RING-H2 zinc finger domain motif. In some embodiments, means of determining homology are described in the Examples.

The term “homology” when used in relation to nucleic acids or proteins refers to a degree of identity. There may be partial homology or complete homology. The following terms are used to describe the sequence relationships between two or more polynucleotides and between two or more polypeptides: “identity,” “percentage identity,”“identical,” “reference sequence,” “sequence identity,” “percentage of sequence identity,” and “substantial identity.” “Sequence identity” refers to a measure of relatedness between two or more nucleic acids or proteins, and is described as a given as a percentage “of homology” with reference to the total comparison length. A “reference sequence” is a defined sequence used as a basis for a sequence comparison; a reference sequence may be a subset of a larger sequence, for example, the sequence that forms an active site of a protein or a segment of a full-length cDNA sequence or may comprise a complete gene sequence. Since two polynucleotides or polypeptides may each (1) comprise a sequence (i.e., a portion of the complete polynucleotide sequence) that is similar between the two polynucleotides, and (2) may further comprise a sequence that is divergent between the two polynucleotides, sequence comparisons between two (or more) polynucleotides are typically performed by comparing sequences of the two polynucleotides over a “comparison window” to identify and compare local regions of sequence similarity. A “comparison window,” as used herein, refers to a conceptual segment of in internal region of a polypeptide. In one embodiment, a comparison window is at least 77 amino acids long. In another embodiment, a comparison window is at least 84 amino acids long. In another embodiment, conserved regions of proteins are comparison windows. In a further embodiment, an amino acid sequence for a conserved transmembrane domain is 24 amino acids. Calculations of identity-may be performed by algorithms contained within computer programs such as the ClustalX algorithm (Thompson, et al. Nucleic Acids Res. 24, 4876-4882 (1997)); herein incorporated by reference); MEGA2 (version 2.1) (Kumar, et al. Bioinformatics 17, 1244-1245 (2001); herein incorporated by reference); “GAP” (Genetics Computer Group, Madison, Wis.), “ALIGN” (DNAStar, Madison, Wis.), BLAST (National Center for Biotechnology Information; NCBI as described at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.g-ov/BLAST/blast_help.shtml) and MultAlin (Multiple sequence alignment) program (Corpet, Nucl. Acids Res., 16 (22), 10881-10890 (1988); herein incorporated by reference, at http://prodes.toulouse.inra.fr/multalin/multalin.html), all of which are herein incorporated by reference) and as described in EXAMPLE IX.

For comparisons of nucleic acids, 20 contiguous nucleotide positions wherein a polynucleotide sequence may be compared to a reference sequence of at least 20 contiguous nucleotides and wherein the portion of the polynucleotide sequence in the comparison window may comprise additions or deletions (i.e., gaps) of 20 percent or less as compared to the reference sequence (which does not comprise additions or deletions) for optimal alignment of the two sequences. Optimal alignment of sequences for aligning a comparison window may be conducted by the local homology algorithm of Smith and Waterman (Smith and Waterman, Adv. Appl. Math. 2:482 (1981)) by the homology alignment algorithm of Needleman and Wunsch (Needleman and Wunsch, J. Mol. Biol. 48:443 (1970); herein incorporated by reference), by the search for similarity method of Pearson and Lipman (Pearson and Lipman, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (U.S.A.) 85:2444 (1988); herein incorporated by reference), by computerized implementations of these algorithms (GAP, BESTFIT, FASTA, and TFASTA in the Wisconsin Genetics Software Package Release 7.0, Genetics Computer Group, 575 Science Dr., Madison, Wis.; herein incorporated by reference), or by inspection, and the best alignment (i.e., resulting in the highest percentage of homology over the comparison window) generated by the various methods is selected.

The term “sequence identity” means that two polynucleotide or two polypeptide sequences are identical (i.e., on a nucleotide-by-nucleotide basis or amino acid basis) over the window of comparison. The term “percentage of sequence identity” is calculated by comparing two optimally aligned sequences over the window of comparison, determining the number of positions at which the identical nucleic acid base (e.g., A, T, C, G, U, or I) or amino acid, in which often conserved amino acids are taken into account, occurs in both sequences to yield the number of matched positions, dividing the number of matched positions by the total number of positions in the window of comparison (i.e., the window size), and multiplying the result by 100 to yield the percentage of sequence identity. The terms “substantial identity” as used herein denotes a characteristic of a polynucleotide sequence, wherein the polynucleotide comprises a sequence that has at least 85 percent sequence identity, preferably at least 90 to 95 percent sequence identity, more usually at least 99 percent sequence identity as compared to a reference sequence over a comparison window of at least 20 nucleotide positions, frequently over a window of at least 25-50 nucleotides, wherein the percentage of sequence identity is calculated by comparing the reference sequence to the polynucleotide sequence which may include deletions or additions which total 20 percent or less of the reference sequence over the window of comparison. The reference sequence may be a subset of a larger sequence, for example, as a segment (see, for e.g. SEQ ID NOs:03 and 04) of the full-length sequences of the compositions claimed in the present invention (see, for e.g. SEQ ID NOs:01 and 02).

The term “ortholog” refers to a gene in different species that evolved from a common ancestral gene by speciation. In some embodiments, orthologs retain the same function. The term “paralog” refers to genes related by duplication within a genome. In some embodiments, paralogs evolve new functions. In further embodiments, a new function of a paralog is related to the original function.

The term “partially homologous nucleic acid sequence” refers to a sequence that at least partially inhibits (or competes with) a completely complementary sequence from hybridizing to a target nucleic acid and is referred to using the functional term “substantially homologous.” The inhibition of hybridization of the completely complementary sequence to the target sequence may be examined using a hybridization assay (Southern or Northern blot, solution hybridization and the like) under conditions of low stringency. A substantially homologous sequence or probe will compete for and inhibit the binding (i.e., the hybridization) of a sequence that is completely complementary to a target under conditions of low stringency. This is not to say that conditions of low stringency are such that non-specific binding is permitted; low stringency conditions require that the binding of two sequences to one another be a specific (i.e., selective) interaction. The absence of non-specific binding may be tested by the use of a second target which lacks even a partial-degree of identity (e.g., less than about 30% identity); in the absence of non-specific binding the probe will not hybridize to the second non-identical target.

The term “substantially homologous” when used in reference to a double-stranded nucleic acid sequence such as a cDNA or genomic clone refers to any probe that can hybridize to either or both strands of the double-stranded nucleic acid sequence under conditions of low to high stringency as described above.

The term “substantially homologous” when used in reference to a single-stranded nucleic acid sequence refers to any probe that can hybridize (i.e., it is the complement of) the single-stranded nucleic acid sequence under conditions of low to high stringency as described above.

The term “hybridization” refers to the pairing of complementary nucleic acids. Hybridization and the strength of hybridization (i.e., the strength of the association between the nucleic acids) is impacted by such factors as the degree of complementary between the nucleic acids, stringency of the conditions involved, the T.sub.m of the formed hybrid, and the G:C ratio within the nucleic acids. A single molecule that contains pairing of complementary nucleic acids within its structure is said to be “self-hybridized.”

The term “T_(m)” refers to the “melting temperature” of a nucleic acid. Melting temperature T_(m) is the midpoint of the temperature range over which nucleic acids are denatured (e.g. DNA:DNA, DNA:RNA and RNA:RNA, etc.). Methods for calculating the T_(m) of nucleic acids are well known in the art (see, for e.g., Sambrook, et al. Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2.sup.nd ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York (1989) pp. 9.50-51, 11.48-49 and 11.2-11.3; herein incorporated by reference).

The term “stringency” refers to the conditions of temperature, ionic strength, and the presence of other compounds such as organic solvents, under which nucleic acid hybridizations are conducted. With “high stringency” conditions, nucleic acid base pairing will occur only between nucleic acid fragments that have a high frequency of complementary base sequences. Thus, conditions of “low” stringency are often required with nucleic acids that are derived from organisms that are genetically diverse, as the frequency of complementary sequences is usually less.

“Low stringency conditions” when used in reference to nucleic acid hybridization comprise conditions equivalent to binding or hybridization at 42° C. in a solution consisting of 5×SSPE (43.8 g/l NaCl, 6.9 g/l NaH₂PO₄H₂O and 1.85 g/l EDTA, pH adjusted to 7.4 with NaOH), 0.1% SDS, 5× Denhardt's reagent (50× Denhardt's contains per 500 ml:05 g Ficoll (Type 400, Pharmacia):05 g BSA (Fraction V; Sigma)) and 100 μg g/ml denatured salmon sperm DNA followed by washing in a solution comprising 5×SSPE, 0.1% SDS at 42° C. when a probe of about 500 nucleotides in length is employed.

“Medium stringency conditions” when used in reference to nucleic acid hybridization comprise conditions equivalent to binding or hybridization at 42° C. in a solution consisting of 5×SSPE (43.8 g/l NaCl, 6.9 g/l NaH₂PO₄H₂O and 1.85 g/l EDTA, pH adjusted to 7.4 with NaOH), 0.5% SDS, 5× Denhardt's reagent and 100 μg/ml denatured salmon sperm DNA followed by washing in a solution comprising 1.0×SSPE, 1.0% SDS at 42° C. when a probe of about 500 nucleotides in length is employed.

“High stringency conditions” when used in reference to nucleic acid hybridization comprise conditions equivalent to binding or hybridization at 42° C. in a solution consisting of 5×SSPE (43.8 g/l NaCl, 6.9 g/l NaH₂PO₄H₂O and 1.85 g/l EDTA, pH adjusted to 7.4 with NaOH), 0.5% SDS, 5× Denhardt's reagent and 100 μg/ml denatured salmon sperm DNA followed by washing in a solution comprising 0.1×SSPE, 1.0% SDS at 42° C. when a probe of about 500 nucleotides in length is employed.

It is well known that numerous equivalent conditions may be employed to comprise low stringency conditions; factors such as the length and nature (DNA, RNA, base composition) of the probe and nature of the target (DNA, RNA, base composition, present in solution or immobilized, etc.) and the concentration of the salts and other components (e.g., the presence or absence of formamide, dextran sulfate, polyethylene glycol) are considered and the hybridization solution may be varied to generate conditions of low stringency hybridization different from, but equivalent to, the above listed conditions. In addition, the art knows conditions that promote hybridization under conditions of high stringency (e.g., increasing the temperature of the hybridization and/or wash steps, the use of formamide in the hybridization solution, etc.).

As used herein, the term “polymerase chain reaction” and “PCR” refers to the method of K. B. Mullis (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195 4,683,202, and 4,965,188; herein incorporated by reference), which describe a method for increasing the concentration of a segment of a target sequence in a mixture of genomic DNA without cloning or purification. This process for amplifying the target sequence consists of introducing an excess of two oligonucleotide primers to the DNA mixture containing the desired target sequence, followed by a precise sequence of thermal cycling in the presence of a DNA polymerase. The two primers are complementary to their respective strands of the double stranded target sequence. To effect amplification, the mixture is denatured and the primers then annealed to their complementary sequences within the target molecule. Following annealing, the primers are extended with a polymerase so as to form a new pair of complementary strands. The steps of denaturation, primer annealing and polymerase extension can be repeated many times (i.e., denaturation, annealing and extension constitute one “cycle”; there can be numerous “cycles”) to obtain a high concentration of an amplified segment of the desired target sequence. The length of the amplified segment of the desired target sequence is determined by the relative positions of the primers with respect to each other, and therefore, this length is a controllable parameter. By virtue of the repeating aspect of the process, the method is referred to as the “polymerase chain reaction” (hereinafter “PCR”). Because the desired amplified segments of the target sequence become the predominant sequences (in terms of concentration) in the mixture, they are said to be “PCR amplified”.

The term “reverse-transcriptase” or “RT-PCR” refers to a type of PCR where the starting material is mRNA. The starting mRNA is enzymatically converted to complementary DNA or “cDNA” using a reverse transcriptase enzyme. The cDNA is then used as a “template” for a “PCR” reaction.

“Amplification” is a special case of nucleic acid replication involving template specificity: It is to be contrasted with non-specific template replication (i.e., replication that is template-dependent but not dependent on a specific template). Template specificity is here distinguished from fidelity of replication (i.e., synthesis of the proper polynucleotide sequence) and nucleotide (ribo- or deoxyribo-) specificity. Template specificity is frequently described in terms of “target” specificity. Target sequences are “targets” in the sense that they are sought to be sorted out from other nucleic acid. Amplification techniques have been designed primarily for this sorting out.

As used herein, the term “primer” refers to an oligonucleotide, whether occurring naturally as in a purified restriction digest or produced synthetically, which is capable of acting as a point of initiation of synthesis when placed under conditions in which synthesis of a primer extension product which is complementary to a nucleic acid strand is induced, (i.e., in the presence of nucleotides and an inducing agent such as DNA polymerase and at a suitable temperature and pH). The primer is preferably single stranded for maximum efficiency in amplification, but may alternatively be double stranded. If double stranded, the primer is first treated to separate its strands before being used to prepare extension products. Preferably, the primer is an oligodeoxyribonucleotide. The primer must be sufficiently long to prime the synthesis of extension products in the presence of the inducing agent. The exact lengths of the primers will depend on many factors, including temperature, source of primer and the use of the method.

As used herein, the terms “PCR product,” “PCR fragment,” and “amplification product” refer to the resultant mixture of compounds after two or more cycles of the PCR steps of denaturation, annealing and extension are complete. These terms encompass the case where there has been amplification of one or more segments of one or more target sequences. Template specificity is achieved in most amplification techniques by the choice of enzyme. Amplification enzymes are enzymes that, under conditions they are used, will process only specific sequences of nucleic acid in a heterogeneous mixture of nucleic acid. For example, in the case of Q replicase, MDV-1 RNA is the specific template for the replicase (see, for e.g., Kacian et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 69:3038-3042 (1972); herein incorporated by reference). Other nucleic acids will not be replicated by this amplification enzyme. Similarly, in the case of T7 RNA polymerase, this amplification enzyme has a stringent specificity for its own promoters (see, for e.g., Chamberlin et al. (1970) Nature, 228:227; herein incorporated by reference). In the case of T4 DNA ligase, the enzyme will not ligate the two oligonucleotides or polynucleotides, where there is a mismatch between the oligonucleotide or polynucleotide substrate and the template at the ligation junction (Wu and Wallace, Genomics, 4:560 (1989); herein incorporated by reference). Finally, Taq and Pfu polymerases, by virtue of their ability to function at high temperature, are found to display high specificity for the sequences bounded and thus defined by the primers; the high temperature results in thermodynamic conditions that favor primer hybridization with the target sequences and not hybridization with non-target sequences (H. A. Erlich (ed.), PCR Technology, Stockton Press (1989); herein incorporated by reference).

The term “amplifiable nucleic acid” refers to nucleic acids that may be amplified by any amplification method. It is contemplated that “amplifiable nucleic acid” will usually comprise “sample template.”

The term “sample template” refers to nucleic acid originating from a sample that is analyzed for the presence of “target” (defined below). In contrast, “background template” is used-in reference to nucleic acid other than sample template that may or may not be present in a sample. Background template is most often inadvertent. It may be the result of carryover, or it may be due to the presence of nucleic acid contaminants sought to be purified away from the sample. For example, nucleic acids from organisms other than those to be detected may be present as background in a test sample.

The term “primer” refers to an oligonucleotide, whether occurring naturally as in a purified restriction digest or produced synthetically, which is capable of acting as a point of initiation of synthesis when placed under conditions in which synthesis of a primer extension product which is complementary to a nucleic acid strand is induced, (i.e., in the presence of nucleotides and an inducing agent such as DNA polymerase and at a suitable temperature and pH). The primer is preferably single stranded for maximum efficiency in amplification, but may alternatively be double stranded. If double stranded, the primer is first treated to separate its strands before being used to prepare extension products. Preferably, the primer is an oligodeoxyribonucleotide. The primer must be sufficiently long to prime the synthesis of extension products in the presence of the inducing agent. The exact lengths of the primers will depend on many factors, including temperature, source of primer and the use of the method.

The term “expression” when used in reference to a nucleic acid sequence, such as a gene, refers to the process of converting genetic information encoded in a gene into RNA (e.g., mRNA, rRNA, tRNA, or snRNA) through “transcription” of the gene (i.e., via the enzymatic action of an RNA polymerase), and into protein where applicable (as when a gene encodes a protein), through “translation” of mRNA. Gene expression can be regulated at many stages in the process. “Up-regulation” or “activation” refers to regulation that increases the production of gene expression products (i.e., RNA or protein), while “down-regulation” or “repression” refers to regulation that decrease production. Molecules (e.g., transcription factors) that are involved in up-regulation or down-regulation are often called “activators” and “repressors,” respectively.

The term “vector” refers to nucleic acid molecules that transfer DNA segment(s). Transfer can be into a cell, cell to cell, et cetera. The term “vehicle” is sometimes used interchangeably with “vector.”

The terms “expression vector” or “expression cassette” refer to a recombinant DNA molecule containing a desired coding sequence and appropriate nucleic acid sequences necessary for the expression of the operably linked coding sequence in a particular host organism. Nucleic acid sequences necessary for expression in prokaryotes usually include a promoter, an operator (optional), and a ribosome binding site, often along with other sequences. Eukaryotic cells are known to utilize promoters, enhancers, and termination and polyadenylation signals. The term “expression vector” when used in reference to a construct refers to an expression vector construct comprising, for example, a heterologous DNA encoding a gene of interest and the various regulatory elements that facilitate the production of the particular protein of interest in the target cells. In certain embodiments of the present invention, a nucleic acid sequence of the present invention within an expression vector is operatively linked to an appropriate expression control sequence(s) (promoter) to direct mRNA synthesis.

The terms “in operable combination,” “in operable order,” and “operably linked” refer to the linkage of nucleic acid sequences in such a manner that a nucleic acid molecule capable of directing the transcription of a given gene and/or the synthesis of a desired protein molecule is produced. The term also refers to the linkage of amino acid sequences in such a manner so that a functional protein is produced.

The term “regulatory element” refers to a genetic element that controls some aspect of the expression of nucleic acid sequences. For example, a promoter is a regulatory element that facilitates the initiation of transcription of an operably linked coding region. Other regulatory elements are splicing signals, polyadenylation signals, termination signals, and the like.

Transcriptional control signals in eukaryotes comprise “promoter” and “enhancer” elements. Promoters and enhancers consist of short arrays of DNA sequences that interact specifically with cellular proteins involved in transcription (see, for e.g., Maniatis, et al. (1987) Science 236:1237; herein incorporated by reference). Promoter and enhancer elements have been isolated from a variety of eukaryotic sources including genes in yeast, insect, mammalian and plant cells. Promoter and enhancer elements have also been isolated from viruses and analogous control elements, such as promoters, are also found in prokaryotes. The selection of a particular promoter and enhancer depends on the cell type used to express the protein of interest. Some eukaryotic promoters and enhancers have a broad host range while others are functional in a limited subset of cell types (for review, see Maniatis, et al. (1987), supra; herein incorporated by reference).

The terms “promoter element,” “promoter,” or “promoter sequence” refer to a DNA sequence that is located at the 5′ end (i.e. precedes) of the coding region of a DNA polymer. The location of most promoters known in nature precedes the transcribed region. The promoter functions as a switch, activating the expression of a gene. If the gene is activated, it is said to be transcribed, or participating in transcription. Transcription involves the synthesis of mRNA from the gene. The promoter, therefore, serves as a transcriptional regulatory element and also provides a site for initiation of transcription of the gene into mRNA.

The term “regulatory region” refers to a gene's 5′ transcribed but untranslated regions, located immediately downstream from the promoter and ending just prior to the translational start of the gene.

The term “promoter region” refers to the region immediately upstream of the coding region of a DNA polymer, and is typically between about 500 bp and 4 kb in length, and is preferably about 1 to 1.5 kb in length. Promoters may be tissue specific or cell specific. The term “tissue specific” as it applies to a promoter refers to a promoter that is capable of directing selective expression of a nucleotide sequence of interest to a specific type of tissue (e.g., seeds) in the relative absence of expression of the same nucleotide sequence of interest in a different type of tissue (e.g., leaves). Tissue specificity of a promoter may be evaluated by, for example, operably linking a reporter gene and/or A reporter gene expressing a reporter molecule, to the promoter sequence to generate a reporter construct, introducing the reporter construct into the genome of a plant such that the reporter construct is integrated into every tissue of the resulting transgenic plant, and detecting the expression of the reporter gene (e.g., detecting mRNA, protein, or the activity of a protein encoded by the reporter gene) in different tissues of the transgenic plant. The detection of a greater level of expression of the reporter gene in one or more tissues relative to the level of expression of the reporter gene in other tissues shows that the promoter is specific for the tissues in which greater levels of expression are detected.

The term “cell type specific” as applied to a promoter refers to a promoter that is capable of directing selective expression of a nucleotide sequence of interest in a specific type of cell in the relative absence of expression of the same nucleotide sequence of interest in a different type of cell within the same tissue. The term “cell type specific” when applied to a promoter also means a promoter capable of promoting selective expression of a nucleotide sequence of interest in a region within a single tissue. Cell type specificity of a promoter may be assessed using methods well known in the art, e.g., immunohistochemical staining. Briefly, tissue sections are embedded in paraffin, and paraffin sections are reacted with a primary antibody that is specific for the polypeptide product encoded by the nucleotide sequence of interest whose expression is controlled by the promoter. A labeled (e.g., peroxidase conjugated) secondary antibody that is specific for the primary antibody is allowed to bind to the sectioned tissue and specific binding detected (e.g. with avidin/biotin) by microscopy.

Promoters may be “constitutive” or “inducible.” The term “constitutive” when made in reference to a promoter means that the promoter is capable of directing transcription of an operably linked nucleic acid sequence in the absence of a stimulus (e.g., heat shock, chemicals, light, etc.). Typically, constitutive promoters are capable of directing expression of a transgene in substantially any cell and any tissue. Exemplary constitutive plant promoters include, but are not limited to Cauliflower Mosaic Virus (CaMV SD; see e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,605, incorporated herein by reference), mannopine synthase, octopine synthase (ocs), superpromoter (see e.g., WO 95/14098; herein incorporated by reference), and ubi3 promoters (see e.g., Garbarino and Belknap, Plant Mol. Biol. 24:119-127 (1994); herein incorporated by reference). Such promoters have been used successfully to direct the expression of heterologous nucleic acid sequences in transformed plant tissue.

In contrast, an “inducible” promoter is one that is capable of directing a level of transcription of an operably linked nucleic acid sequence in the presence of a stimulus (e.g., heat shock, chemicals, light, etc.) that is different from the level of transcription of the operably linked nucleic acid sequence in the absence of the stimulus.

The term “regulatory element” refers to a genetic element that controls some aspect of the expression of nucleic acid sequence(s). For example, a promoter is a regulatory element that facilitates the initiation of transcription of an operably linked coding region. Other regulatory elements are splicing signals, polyadenylation signals, termination signals, and the like.

The enhancer and/or promoter may be “endogenous” or “exogenous” or “heterologous.” An “endogenous” enhancer or promoter is one that is naturally linked with a given gene in the genome. An “exogenous” or “heterologous” enhancer or promoter is one that is placed in juxtaposition to a gene by means of genetic manipulation (i.e., molecular biological techniques) such that transcription of the gene is directed by the linked enhancer or promoter. For example, an endogenous promoter in operable combination with a first gene can be isolated, removed, and placed in operable combination with a second gene, therein making it a “heterologous promoter” in operable combination with the second gene. A variety of such combinations are contemplated (e.g., the first and second genes can be from the same species, or from different species).

The term “naturally linked” or “naturally located” when used in reference to the relative positions of nucleic acid sequences means that the nucleic acid sequences exist in nature in the relative positions.

The presence of “splicing signals” on an expression vector often results in higher levels of expression of the recombinant transcript in eukaryotic host cells. Splicing signals mediate the removal of introns from the primary RNA transcript and consist of a splice donor and acceptor site (Sambrook, et al. Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2.sup.nd ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York (1989) pp. 16.7-16.8; herein incorporated by reference). A commonly used splice donor and acceptor site is the splice junction from the 16S RNA of SV40.

Efficient expression of recombinant DNA sequences in eukaryotic cells requires expression of signals directing the efficient termination and polyadenylation of the resulting transcript. Transcription termination signals are generally found downstream of the polyadenylation signal and are a few hundred nucleotides in length. The term “poly(A) site” or “poly(A) sequence” as used herein denotes a DNA sequence which directs both the termination and polyadenylation of the nascent RNA transcript. Efficient polyadenylation of the recombinant transcript is desirable, as transcripts lacking a poly(A) tail are unstable and are rapidly degraded. The poly(A) signal utilized in an expression vector may be “heterologous” or “endogenous.” An endogenous poly(A) signal is one that is found naturally at the 3′ end of the coding region of a given gene in the genome. A heterologous poly(A) signal is one which has been isolated from one gene and positioned 3′ to another gene. A commonly used heterologous poly(A) signal is the SV40 poly(A) signal. The SV40 poly(A) signal is contained on a 237 bp BamHI/BclI restriction fragment and directs both termination and polyadenylation (Sambrook, supra, at 16.6-16.7).

The term “transfection” refers to the introduction of foreign DNA into cells. Transfection may be accomplished by a variety of means known to the art including calcium phosphate-DNA co-precipitation, DEAE-dextran-mediated transfection, polybrene-mediated transfection, glass beads, electroporation, microinjection, liposome fusion, lipofection, protoplast fusion, viral infection, biolistics (i.e., particle bombardment) and the like.

The terms “stable transfection” and “stably transfected” refer to the introduction and integration of foreign DNA into the genome of the transfected cell. The term “stable transfectant” refers to a cell that has stably integrated foreign DNA into the genomic DNA.

The terms “transient transfection” and “transiently transfected” refer to the introduction of foreign DNA into a cell where the foreign DNA fails to integrate into the genome of the transfected cell. The foreign DNA persists in the nucleus of the transfected cell for several days. During this time the foreign DNA is subject to the regulatory controls that govern the expression of endogenous genes in the chromosomes. The term “transient transfectant” refers to cells that have taken up foreign DNA but have failed to integrate this DNA.

The term “calcium phosphate co-precipitation” refers to a technique for the introduction of nucleic acids into a cell. The uptake of nucleic acids by cells is enhanced when the nucleic acid is presented as a calcium phosphate-nucleic acid co-precipitate. The original technique of Graham and van der Eb in Virol., 52:456 (1973); herein incorporated by reference, has been modified by several groups to optimize conditions for particular types of cells. The art is well aware of these numerous modifications.

The terms “infecting” and “infection” when used with a bacterium refer to co-incubation of a target biological sample, (e.g., cell, tissue, etc.) with the bacterium under conditions such that nucleic acid sequences contained within the bacterium are introduced into one or more cells of the target biological sample.

The terms “bombarding, “bombardment, and “biolistic bombardment” refer to the process of accelerating particles towards a target biological sample (e.g., cell, tissue, etc.) to effect wounding of the cell membrane of a cell in the target biological sample and/or entry of the particles into the target biological sample. Methods for biolistic bombardment are known in the art (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,807; herein incorporated by reference), and are commercially available (e.g. the helium gas-driven microprojectile accelerator (PDS-1000/He, BioRad).

The term “microwounding” when made in reference to plant tissue refers to the introduction of microscopic wounds in that tissue. Microwounding may be achieved by, for example, particle bombardment as described herein.

The term “selectable marker” refers to a gene which encodes an enzyme having an activity that confers resistance to an antibiotic or drug upon the cell in which the selectable marker is expressed, or which confers expression of a trait which can be detected (e.g., luminescence or fluorescence). Selectable markers may be “positive” or “negative.” Examples of positive selectable markers include the neomycin phosphotransferase (NPTII) gene that confers resistance to G418 and to kanamycin, and the bacterial hygromycin phosphotransferase gene (hyg), which confers resistance to the antibiotic hygromycin. Negative selectable markers encode an enzymatic activity whose expression is cytotoxic to the cell when grown in an appropriate selective medium. For example, the HSV-tk gene is commonly used as a negative selectable marker. Expression of the HSV-tk gene in cells grown in the presence of gancyclovir or acyclovir is cytotoxic; thus, growth of cells in selective medium containing gancyclovir or acyclovir selects against cells capable of expressing a functional HSV TK enzyme.

The term “reporter gene” refers to a gene encoding a protein that may be assayed. Examples of reporter genes include, but are not limited to, luciferase (See, e.g., deWet et al. Mol. Cell. Biol. 7:725 (1987) and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,074,859; 5,976,796; 5,674,713; and 5,618,682; all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety), green fluorescent protein (e.g., GenBank Accession Number U43284; GFP variants commercially available from CLONTECH Laboratories, Palo Alto, Calif.; herein incorporated by reference), chloramphenicol acetyltransferase, β-galactosidase (lacZ gene), alkaline phosphatase, and horse radish peroxidase. An example of using β-glucuronidase (GUS) as a reporter gene and using GFP as a reporter marker for expression studies of an Arabidopsis gene encoding a RING domain protein is provided in Lee et al. ((2001) Genes Dev. April 1; 15(7):912-24; herein incorporated by reference).

The term “probe” refers to an oligonucleotide (i.e., a sequence of nucleotides), whether occurring naturally as in a purified restriction digest or produced synthetically, recombinantly or by PCR amplification, that is capable of hybridizing to another oligonucleotide of interest. A probe may be single-stranded or double-stranded. Probes are useful in the detection, identification and isolation of particular gene sequences. It is contemplated that any probe used in the present invention will be labeled with any reporter molecule,” so that is detectable in any detection system, including, but not limited to enzyme (e.g., ELISA, as well as enzyme-based histochemical assays), fluorescent, radioactive, and luminescent systems. It is not intended that the present invention be limited to any particular detection system or label.

The term “antisense” refers to a deoxyribonucleotide sequence whose sequence of deoxyribonucleotide residues is in reverse 5′ to 3′ orientation in relation to the sequence of deoxyribonucleotide residues in a sense strand of a DNA duplex. A “sense strand” of a DNA duplex refers to a strand in a DNA duplex that is transcribed by a cell in its natural state into a “sense mRNA.” Thus an “antisense” sequence is a sequence having the same sequence as the non-coding strand in a DNA duplex. The term “antisense RNA” refers to a RNA transcript that is complementary to all or part of a target primary transcript or mRNA and that blocks the expression of a target gene by interfering with the processing, transport and/or translation of its primary transcript or mRNA. The complementarity of an antisense RNA may be with any part of the specific gene transcript, i.e., at the 5′ non-coding sequence, 3′ non-coding sequence, introns, or the coding sequence. In addition, as used herein, antisense RNA may contain regions of ribozyme sequences that increase the efficacy of antisense RNA to block gene expression. “Ribozyme” refers to a catalytic RNA and includes sequence-specific endoribonucleases. “Antisense inhibition” refers to the production of antisense RNA transcripts capable of preventing the expression of the target protein.

The term “RNA interference” or “RNAi” refers to the silencing or decreasing of gene expression by siRNAs. It is the process of sequence-specific, post-transcriptional gene silencing in animals and plants, initiated by siRNA that is homologous in its duplex region to the sequence of the silenced gene. The gene may be endogenous or exogenous to the organism, present integrated into a chromosome or present in a transfection vector that is not integrated into the genome. The expression of the gene is either completely or partially inhibited. RNAi may also be considered to inhibit the function of a target RNA; the function of the target RNA may be complete or partial. In both plants and animals, RNAi is mediated by RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), a sequence-specific, multicomponent nuclease that destroys messenger RNAs homologous to the silencing trigger. RISC is known to contain short RNAs (approximately 22 nucleotides) derived from the double-stranded RNA trigger, although the protein components of this activity are unknown. However, the 22-nucleotide RNA sequences are homologous to the target gene that is being suppressed. Thus, the 22-nucleotide sequences appear to serve as guide sequences to instruct a multicomponent nuclease, RISC, to destroy the specific mRNAs. Carthew (2001) has reported (Curr. Opin. Cell Biol. 13(2):244-248) that eukaryotes silence gene expression in the presence of dsRNA homologous to the silenced gene. Biochemical reactions that recapitulate this phenomenon generate RNA fragments of 21 to 23 nucleotides from the double-stranded RNA. These stably associate with an RNA endonuclease, and probably serve as a discriminator to select mRNAs. Once selected, mRNAs are cleaved at sites 21 to 23 nucleotides apart.

The term “siRNAs” refers to short interfering RNAs. In some embodiments, siRNAs comprise a duplex, or double-stranded region, of about 18-25 nucleotides long; often siRNAs contain from about two to four unpaired nucleotides at the 3′ end of each strand. At least one strand of the duplex or double-stranded region of a siRNA is substantially homologous to or substantially complementary to a target RNA molecule. The strand complementary to a target RNA molecule is the “antisense strand” the strand homologous to the target RNA molecule is the “sense strand,” and is also complementary to the siRNA antisense strand. siRNAs may also contain additional sequences; non-limiting examples of such sequences include linking sequences, or loops, as well as stem and other folded structures. siRNAs appear to function as key intermediaries in triggering RNA interference in invertebrates and in vertebrates, and in triggering sequence-specific RNA degradation during posttranscriptional gene silencing in plants.

The terms “hpRNA” and “hairpin RNA” refer to self-complementary RNA that forms hairpin loops and functions to silence genes (e.g. Wesley et al. (2001) The Plant Journal 27(6):581-590; herein incorporated by reference). The term “ihpRNA” refers to intron-spliced hpRNA that functions to silence genes.

The term “target RNA molecule” refers to an RNA molecule to which at least one strand of the short double-stranded region of a siRNA is homologous or complementary. Typically, when such homology or complementary is about 100%, the siRNA is able to silence or inhibit expression of the target RNA molecule. Although it is believed that processed mRNA is a target of siRNA, the present invention is not limited to any particular hypothesis, and such hypotheses are not necessary to practice the present invention. Thus, it is contemplated that other RNA molecules may also be targets of siRNA. Such targets include unprocessed mRNA, ribosomal RNA, and viral RNA genomes.

The terms “posttranscriptional gene silencing” and “PTGS” refers to silencing of gene expression in plants after transcription, and appears to involve the specific degradation of mRNAs synthesized from gene repeats. The term “cosuppression” refers to silencing of endogenous genes by heterologous genes that share sequence identity with endogenous genes.

The term “coexpression” refers to the expression of a foreign gene that has substantial homology to an endogenous gene resulting in the suppression of expression of both the foreign and the endogenous gene. As used herein, the term “altered levels” refers to the production of gene product(s) in transgenic organisms in amounts or proportions that differ from that of normal or non-transformed organisms.

The term “overexpression” generally refers to the production of a gene product in transgenic organisms that exceeds levels of production in normal or non-transformed organisms.

The terms “overexpression” and “overexpressing” and grammatical equivalents, are specifically used in reference to levels of mRNA to indicate a level of expression approximately 3-fold higher than that typically observed in a given tissue in a control or non-transgenic animal. Levels of mRNA are measured using any of a number of techniques known to those skilled in the art including, but not limited to Northern blot analysis. Appropriate controls are included on the Northern blot to control for differences in the amount of RNA loaded from each tissue analyzed (e.g., the amount of 28S rRNA, an abundant RNA transcript present at essentially the same amount in all tissues, present in each sample can be used as a means of normalizing or standardizing the RAD50 mRNA-specific signal observed on Northern blots).

The terms “Southern blot analysis” and “Southern blot” and “Southern” refer to the analysis of DNA on agarose or acrylamide gels in which DNA is separated or fragmented according to size followed by transfer of the DNA from the gel to a solid support, such as nitrocellulose or a nylon membrane. The immobilized DNA is then exposed to a labeled probe to detect DNA species complementary to the probe used. The DNA may be cleaved with restriction enzymes prior to electrophoresis. Following electrophoresis, the DNA may be partially depurinated and denatured prior to or during transfer to the solid support. Southern blots are a standard tool of molecular biologists (Sambrook, et al. Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2.sup.nd ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, New York (1989) pp. 9.31-9.58; herein incorporated by reference).

The term “Northern blot analysis,” “Northern blot,” and “Northern” refer to the analysis of RNA by electrophoresis of RNA on agarose gels to fractionate the RNA according to size followed by transfer of the RNA from the gel to a solid support, such as nitrocellulose or a nylon membrane. The immobilized RNA is then probed with a labeled probe to detect RNA species complementary to the probe used. Northern blots are a standard tool of molecular biologists (Sambrook, et al. (1989) supra, pp 7.39-7.52; herein incorporated by reference).

The term “isolated” when used in relation to a nucleic acid or polypeptide, as in “an isolated oligonucleotide” refers to a nucleic acid sequence that is identified and separated from at least one contaminant nucleic acid with which it is ordinarily associated in its natural source. Isolated nucleic acid is present in a form or setting that is different from that in which it is found in nature. In contrast, non-isolated nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are found in the state they exist in nature. For example, a given DNA sequence (e.g., a gene) is found on the host cell chromosome in proximity to neighboring genes; RNA sequences, such as a specific mRNA sequence encoding a specific protein, are found in the cell as a mixture with numerous other mRNAs that encode a multitude of proteins. However, isolated nucleic acid encoding a particular protein includes, by way of example, such nucleic acid in cells ordinarily expressing the protein, where the nucleic acid is in a chromosomal location different from that of natural cells, or is otherwise flanked by a different nucleic acid sequence than that found in nature. The isolated nucleic acid or oligonucleotide may be present in single-stranded or double-stranded form. When an isolated nucleic acid or oligonucleotide is to be utilized to express a protein, the oligonucleotide will contain at a minimum the sense or coding strand (i.e., the oligonucleotide may single-stranded), but may contain both the sense and anti-sense strands (i.e., the oligonucleotide may be double-stranded).

The term “purified” refers to molecules, either nucleic or amino acid sequences that are removed from their natural environment isolated or separated. An “isolated nucleic acid sequence” is therefore a purified nucleic acid sequence. “Substantially purified” molecules are at least 60% free, preferably at least 75% free, and more preferably at least 90% free from other components with which they are naturally associated. As used herein, the terms “purified” and “to purify” also refer to the removal of contaminants from a sample. The removal of contaminating proteins results in an increase in the percent of polypeptide of interest in the sample. In another example, recombinant polypeptides are expressed in plant, bacterial, yeast, or mammalian host cells and the polypeptides are purified by the removal of host cell proteins; the percent of recombinant polypeptides is therein increased in the sample.

The term “accession” when used herein associated with sequences of genes and proteins refers to a gene or group of similar genes or proteins from these genes or proteins received from a single source at a single time. The term “accession number” when used herein refers to a unique identifier for protein and gene sequences and is assigned when an accession is entered into a database (for example GenBank at NCBI, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the like.

The term “sample” is used in its broadest sense. In one sense it can refer to a plant cell or tissue, such as a leaf. In another sense, it is meant to include a specimen or culture obtained from any source, as well as biological and environmental samples. Biological samples may be obtained from plants or animals and encompass fluids, solids, tissues, and gases. Environmental samples include environmental material such as surface matter, soil, water, salt, and industrial samples. These examples are not to be construed as limiting the sample types applicable to the present invention.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present inventions relate to compositions and methods for providing stress tolerant transgenic plants comprising a RING domain zinc-finger motif transcription factor protein. More particularly, the invention relates to compositions and methods comprising a RING-H2 domain transcription factor protein for providing drought and salt tolerant plants, in particular comprising a recombinant XERICO gene (see, for e.g., SEQ ID NO:02) and XERICO protein (see, for e.g., SEQ ID NO:01).

The present invention relates to genes, proteins and methods comprising RING-H2 zinc finger proteins. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to altering environmental stress tolerance in plants and microorganisms using XERICO RING-H2 zinc finger domain proteins (AT2G04240; SEQ ID NO:01). Thus, the presently claimed invention provides compositions comprising XERICO genes, XERICO coding sequences, and XERICO polypeptides, and in particular to expression vectors encoding XERICO (AT2G04240; see, for e.g., SEQ ID NO:02) and related genes in the AT2G04240 RING-H2 zinc finger domain family (AT2G04240-like), see, for e.g., SEQ ID NOs:17, 21, 35, 42, 55, 157 and their encoded AT2G04240-like polypeptides SEQ ID NOs: 14, 19, 34, 40, 53, 154, respectively, in addition to those shown in FIG. 10 and described in Table 2.

The present invention also provides methods for using XERICO genes, and XERICO polypeptides; such methods include but are not limited to use of these genes to produce transgenic plants, to produce XERICO protein, to increase levels of XERICO protein, to increase ABA levels, to alter environmental stress tolerance, to alter environmental stress phenotypes, and for controlled production of drought and or salt tolerance. It is not meant to limit the present invention to alterations in XERICO expression. In some embodiments, XERICO alters one or more of the following: ABA levels, open stomata, AtTLP9; SEQ ID NO:381, expression and/or activity, and AtUBC8; SEQ ID NO:379, expression and/or activity. In some embodiments, XERICO polypeptides are overexpressed in transgenic plants, transgenic tissue, transgenic leaves, transgenic seeds, and transgenic host cells. It may be desirable to integrate the nucleic acid sequence of interest to the plant genome. Introduction of the nucleic acid sequence of interest into the plant cell genome may be achieved by, for example, heterologous recombination using Agrobacterium-derived sequences, such as described herein and in the EXAMPLES.

Alternatively, the responsiveness of a plant or plant cell to a stress condition can be modulated by use of a suppressor construct containing dominant negative mutation for any of the stress-regulated sequences described herein. Expression of a suppressor construct containing a dominant mutant mutation generates a mutant transcript that, when coexpressed with the wild-type transcript inhibits the action of the wild-type transcript. Methods for the design and use of dominant negative constructs are well known (see, for e.g., in Herskowitz, (1987) Nature 329:219-222; Lagna and Hemmati-Brivanlou, (1998) Curr. Topics Devel. Biol. 36:75-98; all of which are herein incorporated by reference).

The present invention also provides methods for inhibiting XERICO (AT2G04240) genes, and XERICO polypeptides; such methods include but are not limited to use of these genes in antisense constructs to produce transgenic plants, to inhibit XERICO protein, to decrease XERICO protein, to decrease levels of endogenous XERICO protein, to decrease ABA levels, to alter environmental stress tolerance, to alter environmental stress phenotypes, and for controlled production of drought and or salt tolerance. In some embodiments, XERICO (AT2G04240) polypeptides are underexpressed in transgenic plants, transgenic tissue, transgenic leaves, transgenic seeds, and transgenic host cells. Introduction of the nucleic acid sequence of interest into the plant cell genome may be achieved by, for example, heterologous recombination using Agrobacterium-derived sequences.

Thus, the presently claimed invention provides compositions comprising XERICO related (AT2G04240-like/homologous) genes and coding sequences, and AT2G04240-like/homologous polypeptides, and in particular to expression vectors encoding AT2G04240-like/homologous, and related genes in the AT2G04240 family (AT2G04240-like/homologues) and their encoded polypeptides.

The present invention also provides methods for using XERICO related (AT2G04240-like/homologous genes, and XERICO related (AT2G04240-like/homologous) polypeptides; such methods include but are not limited to use of these genes to produce transgenic plants, to alter environmental stress tolerance, to alter phenotypes, and for controlled drought production. It may be desirable to target the nucleic acid sequence of interest to a particular locus on the plant genome. In some embodiments, AT2G04240-like polypeptides are overexpressed in transgenic plants, transgenic tissue, transgenic leaves, transgenic seeds, transgenic host cells. In some embodiments, AT2G04240-like polypeptides are underexpressed in transgenic plants, transgenic tissue, transgenic leaves, transgenic seeds, transgenic host cells. Introduction of the nucleic acid sequence of interest into the plant cell genome may be achieved by, for example, heterologous recombination using Agrobacterium-derived sequences.

The present invention is not limited to any particular mechanism of action. Indeed, an understanding of the mechanism of action is not needed to practice the present invention. The following description describes pathways involved in regulating environmental stress, with an emphasis on controlling XERICO protein expression, production or controlling XERICO protein activity. Also described are methods for identifying genes involved in providing or controlling XERICO activity, and of XERICO mutants and related AT2G04240 genes discovered through use of these methods. Further, using the sequences of the present invention, additional AT2G04240 and AT2G04240-like genes and amino acid sequences are identified, isolated, and characterized for the methods of the present invention. This description also provides methods of identifying, isolated, characterizing and using these genes and their encoded proteins. In addition, the description provides specific, but not limiting, illustrative examples of embodiments of the present invention.

Methods of the invention can be performed with respect to identifying a pathway involving any of the XERICO stress-regulated polypeptides as encoded by a polynucleotide of SEQ ID NO:01, including for example, a stress-regulated transcription factor, an enzyme, including a kinase, a channel protein. Pathways in which the disclosed stress-regulated stress factors are involved can be identified, for example, ubiquitin ligase 3 pathways, by searching the Munich Information Center for Protein Sequences (MIPS) Arabidopsis thaliana database (MATDB).

The present invention also relates to methods of identifying a polynucleotide that modulates a XERICO stress response in a plant cell. Such a method can be performed, for example, by contacting an array of probes representative of a plant cell genome, such as an ATH1 Genechip array, and nucleic acid molecules expressed in plant cell exposed to a particular stress; such as osmotic stress and/or salt stress, detecting a nucleic acid molecule that is expressed at a level different from a level of expression in the absence of the stress; introducing the nucleic acid molecule that is expressed differently into a plant cell; and detecting a modulated response of the plant cell containing the introduced nucleic acid molecule to a stress, therein identifying a polynucleotide that modulates a stress response in a plant cell. The contacting is under conditions that allow for selective hybridization of a nucleic acid molecule with probe having sufficient complementarity, for example, under stringent hybridization conditions.

The present invention also relates to methods of using a polynucleotide portion of a plant stress-regulated gene, such as XERICO and AT2G04240-like genes, to confer a selective advantage on a plant cell. In one embodiment, such a method is performed by introducing a plant stress-regulated regulatory element into a plant cell, such as a RING-H2 domain, for example, those described herein, wherein, upon exposure of the plant cell to a stress condition to which the regulatory element is responsive, a nucleotide sequence operatively linked to the regulatory element is expressed, therein conferring a selective advantage to plant cell. The operatively linked nucleotide sequence can be, for example, a XERICO transcription factor, the expression of which induces the further expression of polynucleotides involved in a stress response, therein enhancing the response of a plant to the stress condition. In another embodiment, a coding sequence of a plant stress-regulated XERICO gene as disclosed herein is introduced into the cell, therein providing the plant with a selective advantage in response to a stress condition. In still another embodiment, the method results in the knock-out of a plant stress-regulated gene, such as XERICO, as disclosed herein, in a first population of plants, therein providing a selective advantage to a stress condition in a second population of plants.

The invention further relates to a method of identifying an agent that modulates the activity of a stress-regulated regulatory element of a plant. In a particular embodiment, methods are provided for identifying an agent that alters the activity of an abiotic stress responsive regulatory element comprising contacting the agent or a composition containing an agent to be tested with at least one abiotic stress responsive regulatory element, preferably an element associated with regulating, for e.g., SEQ ID NO:01 and/or SEQ ID NO:03 (see, also, for e.g. XERICO-like sequences in FIG. 10), and determining the effect of the agent on the ability of the regulatory sequence to regulate XERICO transcription. In further embodiments, the regulatory elements are associated with particular stresses or combination of stresses such as osmotic stress and saline stress.

In one embodiment, the regulatory element can be operatively linked to a heterologous polynucleotide encoding a reporter molecule, and an agent that modulates the activity of the stress-regulated regulatory element can be identified by detecting a change in expression of the reporter molecule due to contacting the regulatory element with the agent. Such a method can be performed in vitro in a plant cell-free system, or in a plant cell in culture or in a plant in situ. In another embodiment, the agent is contacted with a transgenic plant containing an introduced plant stress-regulated regulatory element, and an agent that modulates the activity of the regulatory element is identified by detecting a phenotypic change in the transgenic plant. The methods of the invention can be performed in the presence or absence of the stress condition to which the particularly regulatory element is responsive, in particular to osmotic stress and/or saline stress.

Another aspect provides a method for identifying an agent that alters abiotic stress responsive polynucleotide expression in a plant or plant cell comprising contacting a plant or plant cell with a test agent; subjecting the plant cell or plant cell to an abiotic stress or combination of stresses before, during or after contact with the agent to be tested; obtaining an expression profile of the plant or plant cell and comparing the expression profile of the plant or plant cell to an expression profile from a plant or plant cell not exposed to the abiotic stress or combination of stresses. In one embodiment, the expression profile comprises expression data for at least one nucleotide sequence comprising any of SEQ ID NO:02 (see, also, for e.g. FIGS. 10, 11 and 12). In additional embodiments, the expression profile comprises expression data for at least one, and preferably two or more sequences associated with a particular abiotic stress or combination of stresses such as osmotic stress and/or saline stress (see, also, Table 1).

Yet another aspect provides nucleotide probes useful for detecting an abiotic stress response in plants, the probes comprising a nucleotide sequence of at least 15, 25, 50 or 100 nucleotides that hybridizes under stringent, preferably highly stringent, conditions to at least one sequence comprising any of SEQ ID NO:02. Also provided are nucleotide probes comprising at least 15, 25, 50 or 100 nucleotides in length that hybridize under stringent, preferably highly stringent conditions, to at least one gene associated with a particular stress or combination of stresses, for example saline/salt stress and osmotic stress (SEQ ID NO:451).

A plant stress-regulated regulatory element, such as XERICO, can be operatively linked to a heterologous polynucleotide such that, upon expression from the regulatory element in the plant cell, confers a desirable phenotype on the plant cell. For example, the heterologous polynucleotide can encode an aptamer, which can bind to a stress-induced polypeptide, for example, a XERICO polypeptide. Aptamers are nucleic acid molecules that are selected based on their ability to bind to and inhibit the activity of a protein or metabolite. Aptamers can be obtained by the SELEX (Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment) method (see, for e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,163; herein incorporated by reference), wherein a candidate mixture of single stranded nucleic acids having regions of randomized sequence is contacted with a target, and those nucleic acids having a specific affinity to the target are partitioned from the remainder of the candidate mixture, and amplified to yield a ligand enriched mixture. After several iterations a nucleic acid molecule (aptamer) having optimal affinity for the target is obtained. For example, such a nucleic acid molecule can be operatively linked to a plant stress-regulated regulatory element, such as XERICO, and introduced into a plant. Where the aptamer is selected for binding to a polypeptide that normally is expressed from the regulatory element and is involved in an adaptive response of the plant to a stress, the recombinant molecule comprising the aptamer can be useful for inhibiting the activity of the stress-regulated polypeptide, therein decreasing the tolerance of the plant to the stress condition.

The present invention further relates to a method of modulating the activity of a biological pathway in a plant cell, wherein the pathway involves a stress-regulated XERICO polypeptide. As used herein, reference to a pathway that “involves” a stress-regulated polypeptide means that the polypeptide is required for normal function of the pathway. For example, plant stress-regulated XERICO polypeptides as disclosed herein include those acting as transcription factors or as protein binding elements or affecting ABA mediated stress responses, which are well known to be involved in signal transduction pathways. As such, a method of the invention provides a means to modulate biological pathways involving plant stress-regulated XERICO polypeptides, for example, by altering the expression of the XERICO polypeptides in response to a stress condition or in response to changes in ABA levels. Thus, a method of the invention can be performed, for example, by introducing a XERICO polynucleotide portion of a plant stress-regulated XERICO gene into the plant cell, therein modulating the activity of the biological pathway, see, FIG. 1.

I. RING Finger Proteins

RING finger proteins are involved in various biological processes, however the majority of them, including specifically At2g04240; SEQ ID NO:01 and 02, have not been reported to be associated with obvious phenotypic consequences on plant growth and development. In experiments conducted during the course of the present inventions, a RING-H2 type zinc-finger gene and protein, At2g04240; SEQ ID NO:02, was isolated and inserted (SEQ ID NO:13) into Arabidopsis plants. These transgenic plants showed a dramatic increase in cellular ABA levels and consequently demonstrated a phenotype of drought tolerance. Therefore for reference, At2g04240 was named XERICO, meaning ‘drought tolerant’ in Greek. Further experiments demonstrated that a XERICO protein interacts with AtTLP9 (SEQ ID NO:380 and/or 381) an ASK1-interacting F-box protein involved in ABA signaling pathway and (SEQ ID NO:387 and/or 388), implying a connection between XERICO and ABA homeostasis through a ubiquitin/proteasome pathway.

RING zinc-finger proteins have important regulatory roles in the development of a variety of organisms. One of these, encoded by the gene named XERICO; SEQ ID NO:02, encodes a small protein (162 amino acids; SEQ ID NO:01) with an N-terminal trans-membrane domain SEQ ID NO:09, an low complexity region SEQ ID NO:08, and a RING-H2 zinc-finger motif, SEQ ID NO:03, located at the C-terminus. In silico gene expression analysis showed that XERICO is induced by salt/osmotic stress. Compared to wild-type Arabidopsis plants, transgenic adult 35S::XERICO plants, overexpressing XERICO (35S::XERICO) showed a marked increase in their tolerance to drought stress. In contrast to adult 35S::XERICO plants, early seedling growth of transgenic 35S::XERICO plants exhibited hypersensitivity to salt/osmotic stress and exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) during germination and early seedling growth. When subjected to a drought treatment, transcriptional upregulation of a key ABA biosynthesis gene, AtNCED3; SEQ ID NO:382, and was much faster and stronger in 35S::XERICO plants compared to wild-type plants. Further, upregulation of XERICO substantially increased cellular ABA levels. Yeast two-hybrid screening indicated that XERICO interacts with an E2 ubiquitin conjugating enzyme (AtUBC8 SEQ ID NO:378 and/or 379) and ASK1-interacting F-box protein (AtTLP9; SEQ ID NO:387 and/or 388; see, for e.g., Lai et al. (2004) Plant Physiol. 134:1586-1597; herein incorporated by reference), which is involved in ABA signaling pathway. Affymetrix GeneChip Array analysis showed that the expressions of many of the genes involved in the biosynthesis of plant hormones (for, e.g., ethylene; brassinosteroid; and gibberellic acid) were significantly changed in the 35S::XERICO plants. These results imply that the homeostasis of various plant hormones might be altered in 35S::XERICO plants, possibly by over-accumulation of ABA.

A. RING Zinc-Finger Protein Regulation of Tolerance to Abiotic Stress in Plants

Zinc-finger proteins are among the most abundant proteins in eukaryotes. Their zinc-binding motifs vary widely in structure as well as in function, ranging from DNA/RNA binding to protein-protein interactions and membrane association (see, for e.g., Laity et al. (2001) Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 11:9-46; herein incorporated by reference). The RING (Really Interesting New Gene) finger motif was defined as a novel zinc-finger domain (Freemont et al. (1991) Cell 64:483-484; herein incorporated by reference). RING zinc-finger motif, a small Cys/His rich (C3HC/HC3), is represented in two distinct variants RING-HC and RING-H2 (SEQ ID NO:05), depending on which amino acid (Cys or His) occupies the fifth position of the motif (see, for e.g., Freemont (2000) Curr. Biol. 10:R84-87; herein incorporated by reference). The RING finger domain has been found in the proteins involved in various signal transduction pathways and regulatory proteins such as breast cancer susceptibility factor BRCA1, transcriptional intermediary factor TIF1, proto-oncoproteins Cb1 and Bmi-1 (see, for e.g., Saurin et al. (1996) Trends Biochem. Sci. 21:208-214; Joazeiro et al. (1999) Science 286:309-312; Freemont (2000) Curr. Biol. 10:R84-87; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). Genes encoding RING finger proteins have been isolated from a variety of organisms including animals, plants, and viruses (see, for e.g., Freemont (1993) Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 684:174-192; Saurin et al. (1996) Trends Biochem. Sci. 21:208-214; Jensen et al. (1998) FEBS Lett. 436:283-287; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). In plants, several RING finger proteins have been identified and characterized, including photomorphogenic repressor COP1 (SEQ ID NO:378 and 379) (see, for e.g., Deng et al. (1992) Cell 71:791-801; Torii et al. (1998) EMBO J. 17:5577-5587; all of which are herein incorporated by reference), an early elicitor-responsive ATL2 (NM_(—)112545; SEQ ID NO:493) (see, for e.g., Serrano and Guzman (2004) Genetics 167:919-929; herein incorporated by reference), RIE1 (SEQ ID NO:275 and 278) involved in seed development (see, for e.g., Xu and Li (2003) Plant Mol. Biol. 53:37-50; herein incorporated by reference), and BRH1 a brassinosteroid-responsive RING-H2 gene (SEQ ID NO:254 and 255) (see, for e.g., Molnár et al. (2002) Planta 215:127-133; herein incorporated by reference).

A RING motif is a protein-protein interaction domain (SEQ ID NO:05) which has been implicated in a range of diverse biological processes (see, for e.g., Borden and Freemont, 1996; Saurin et al. (1996) Trends Biochem. Sci. 21:208-214; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). Various RING fingers exhibit binding to E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes. E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase activity is inherent to the RING domain of c-Cb1, suggesting a general function of RING domains (see, for e.g., Joazeiro et al. 1999 Science 286(5438):309-312; Joazeiro and Weissman (2000) Cell 102(5):549-52; Freemont, 2000; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). Several plant RING finger proteins have been shown to interact with components in ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation pathway; including a component of SCF complexes involved in ubiquitination (RBX1b; SEQ ID NOs:403 and 404; see, for e.g., Gray et al. (2002) Plant Cell 14:2137-2144; herein incorporated by reference), an elicitor-responsive ubiquitin ligase EL5 (SEQ ID NO:405 and 406) (see, for e.g., Takai et al. (2002)) Plant J. 30:447-455; herein incorporated by reference, a membrane-bound ubiquitin ligase RMA1 (SEQ ID NO:407 and 408) (see, for e.g., Matsuda et al. (1998) Plant Cell Physiol. 39:545-554; Matsuda et al. (2001) J. Cell Sci. 114:1949-1957; all of which are herein incorporated by reference, and a COP1-interacting protein CIP8 (SEQ ID NO:378 and 379) (Torii (1998) EMBO J. 17:5577-5587; herein incorporated by reference). Recently, targeted degradation of cellular proteins by ubiquitination/proteasome pathway has been recognized as an important mode of regulation for many cellular processes, especially in plant hormone action (see, for e.g., Hare et al. (2003) Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 6:453-462; Vierstra (2003) Trends Plant Sci. 8:135-142; Dill et al. (2004) Plant Cell, 16:1392-1405; Gagne et al. (2004) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 101:6803-6808; Dharmasiri et al. (2005) Nature, 435:441-445; all of which are herein incorporated by reference).

Abscisic acid (ABA) is involved in a variety of plant development and stress responses such as dormancy and growth regulation, leaf senescence, and desiccation tolerance (for review, examples, Seo and Koshiba (2002) Trends Plant Sci. 7:41-48; Himmelbach et al (2003) Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 6:470-479; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). Endogenous ABA levels peak during seed maturation and dormancy onset, and regulate vegetative development in response to various environmental stresses such as drought and high-salinity conditions. Under drought stress conditions, the endogenous level of ABA increases and, through its complex signaling cascade, results in stomatal closure to prevent transpirational water loss (Blatt, (2000) Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology 16; 221-241. When water relations return to normal conditions for growth, the endogenous level of ABA decreases to reverse the process. Thus, understanding the regulation of endogenous level of ABA is crucial to develop plant improvement strategies for managing drought tolerance including increasing drought tolerance.

B. RING-H2 Zinc Finger Protein Genes, Coding Sequences and Polypeptides

1. Arabidopsis XERICO (AT2G04240) Genes

The present invention provides plant XERICO genes and proteins including their homologues, orthologs, paralogs, variants and mutants, all of which refer to XERICO and/or AT2G04240-like genes and proteins. In some embodiments, isolated nucleic acid sequences comprising XERICO (SEQ ID NO:02 and/or SEQ ID NO:13) encoding a XERICO polypeptide (SEQ ID NO:01) or XERICO homologue (AT2G04240-like) are provided, see, for nonlimiting examples, FIG. 10. These sequences include nucleotide sequences comprising AT2G04240 RING-H2 cDNA, as shown in FIG. 10; such as SEQ ID NO: 04, with and without genomic sequences. AT2G04240 and AT2G04240-like further comprise sequences encoding low complexity regions, including but not limited to a serine rich region (SEQ ID NO:08 and 456-477) domains including but not limited to (SEQ ID NO:09 and 478-492), (see, for e.g., Olof et al. (2000) Journal of Molecular Biology 300:1005-1016; herein incorporated by reference). In some embodiments of the present invention, isolated nucleic acid sequences comprising genes upregulating XERICO are provided, (see, Table 1). In some contemplated embodiments, mutations in upregulating genes that induce expression of the XERICO genes, result in altered abiotic stress tolerance ratios and abiotic stress tolerance phenotype. In some contemplated embodiments of the present invention, isolated nucleic acid sequences comprising genes downregulating XERICO are provided, (see, Table 1). In some contemplated embodiments, mutations in genes upregulating or genes down-regulating XERICO genes disrupt expression of the XERICO genes resulting in altered abiotic stress tolerance and altered abiotic stress tolerance phenotype.

2. Additional Brassicaceae AT2G04240 Genes

The present invention provides nucleic acid sequences comprising additional AT2G04240 RING-H2 zinc finger protein genes, such as GenBank Accession AF499720 (SEQ ID NO:17 as described in, for example, Wang et al. (2004) Plant Sci. 166 (3), 609-616; herein incorporated by reference). Some embodiments of the present invention provide polynucleotide sequences that are homologue to at least one of exemplary Brassicaceae SEQ ID NOs:02, 18, 22 and 373. In some embodiments, the Brassicaceae polynucleotides are at least 84%, 90%, 95% (or more) identical to any of exemplary SEQ ID NOs:02, 21, 367, 369, 373 and 375. Other embodiments of the present invention provide polynucleotide sequences encoding polypeptides that are homologous to at least one of exemplary SEQ ID NOs:01, 19, 366, 370, 372 and 374. For example, some embodiments of the present invention provide polynucleotide sequences that are at least 80%, 90%, 95% (or more) identical to any of exemplary SEQ ID NOs: 02, 21, 367, 369, 373 and 375.

3. Viridiplantae AT2G04240-Like Genes

The present invention provides nucleic acid sequences comprising additional AT2G04240-like RING-H2 zinc finger protein plant genes. For example, some embodiments of the present invention provide polynucleotide sequences that are homologous to at least one of exemplary SEQ ID NOs:02, 25, 29, 35. In some embodiments, the polynucleotides are at least 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95% (or more) identical to any of exemplary SEQ ID NOs: 233, 229, 124, 81, 162, 1, 35, 40, 29, 157, and 18. Other embodiments of the present invention provide polynucleotide sequences encoding polypeptides that are homologous to at least one of exemplary SEQ ID NOs: 228, 232, 121, 79, 159, 58, 26, 154 and 2. For example, some embodiments of the present invention provide polypeptides that are homologous to at least one of reference SEQ ID NO:01. In some embodiments, the polypeptides are at least 32%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95% (or more) identical to any of exemplary SEQ ID NOs: 228, 232, 121, 79, 159, 58, 26, 154 and 3.

Other embodiments of the present invention provide sequences assembled through EST sequences that produce polypeptides at least 30% or more (e.g., 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 95%) identical to at least one of SEQ ID NOs:02 and 04. In other embodiments, the present invention provides nucleic acid sequences that hybridize under conditions ranging from low to high stringency to at least one of SEQ ID NOs:02 and 04, as long as the polynucleotide sequence capable of hybridizing to at least one of SEQ ID NOs:02 and 04 encodes a protein that retains a desired biological activity of a abiotic stress tolerance RING-H2 zinc finger domain protein; in some preferred embodiments, the hybridization conditions are high stringency. In preferred embodiments, hybridization conditions are based on the melting temperature (T.sub.m) of the nucleic acid binding complex and confer a defined “stringency” as explained above (See e.g., Wahl et al. Meth. Enzymol., 152:399-407 (1987), incorporated herein by reference).

4. Alleles of XERICO (AT2G04240) and AT2G04240-Like Genes

In other embodiments of the present invention, alleles of XERICO (AT2G04240) RING-H2 zinc finger domain genes, and in particular of AT2G04240-like genes, are provided. Any given gene may have none, one or many allelic forms. Common mutational changes that give rise to alleles are generally ascribed to deletions, additions, or insertions, or substitutions of nucleic acids. Each of these types of changes may occur alone, or in combination with the others, and at the rate of one or more times in a given sequence. Mutational changes in alleles also include rearrangements, insertions, deletions, additions, or substitutions in upstream regulatory regions.

In some embodiments, alleles result from a mutation, (i.e., a change in the nucleic acid sequence) and generally produce altered mRNAs or polypeptides whose structure or function may or may not be altered. In preferred embodiments, the invention provides alleles resulting from a mutation for producing altered mRNAs or polypeptides whose structure or function increase tolerance to abiotic stress.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the polynucleotide sequence encoding a XERICO and/or AT2G04240-like gene is extended utilizing the nucleotide sequences (e.g., SEQ ID NOs: 02) in various methods known in the art to detect upstream sequences such as promoters and regulatory elements. For example, it is contemplated that for XERICO, or related AT2G04240 RING-H2 zinc finger domains, the sequences upstream are identified from the Arabidopsis genomic database. For other AT2G04240-like genes for which a database is available, the sequences upstream of the identified AT2G04240-like genes can also be identified. For other AT2G04240-like genes for which a public genomic database is not available, or not complete, it is contemplated that polymerase chain reaction (PCR) finds use in the present invention.

In another embodiment, inverse PCR is used to amplify or extend sequences using divergent primers based on a known region (see, for e.g., Triglia et al. (1988) Nucleic Acids Res., 16:8186; herein incorporated by reference). In yet another embodiment of the present invention, capture PCR (see, for e.g., Lagerstrom et al. PCR Methods Applic., 1:111-19 (1991); herein incorporated by reference) is used. In still other embodiments, walking PCR is utilized. Walking PCR is a method for targeted gene walking that permits retrieval of unknown sequence (see, for e.g., Parker et al. Nucleic Acids Res., 19:3055-60 (1991); herein incorporated by reference). The PROMOTERFINDER kit (Clontech) uses PCR, nested primers and special libraries to “walk in” genomic DNA. This process avoids the need to screen libraries and is useful in finding intron/exon junctions. In yet other embodiments of the present invention, add TAIL PCR is used as a preferred method for obtaining flanking genomic regions, including regulatory regions (see, for e.g., Liu and Whittier, Genomics, February 10; 25(3):674-81 (1.995); Liu et al. Plant J., September; 8(3):457-63 (1995); all of which are herein incorporated by reference). Preferred libraries for screening for full-length cDNAs include libraries that have been size-selected to include larger cDNAs. Also, random primed libraries are preferred, in that they contain more sequences that contain the 5′ and upstream gene regions. A randomly primed library may be particularly useful in cases where an oligo d(T) library does not yield full-length cDNA. Genomic Libraries are useful for obtaining introns and extending 5′ sequence.

5. Variant XERICO Genes

In some embodiments, the present invention provides isolated variants of the disclosed nucleic acid sequences encoding XERICO and/or AT2G04240-like genes, and in particular of XERICO, or related AT2G04240-like RING-H2 zinc finger domains genes, and the polypeptides encoded therein; these variants include mutants, fragments, fusion proteins or functional equivalents of genes and gene protein products.

Thus, nucleotide sequences of the present invention are engineered in order to introduce or alter a XERICO coding sequence for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to initiating the production of abiotic stress tolerance; augmenting or increasing abiotic stress tolerance, alterations that modify the cloning, processing and/or expression of the gene product (such alterations include inserting new restriction sites and changing codon preference), as well as varying the protein function activity (such changes include but are not limited to differing binding kinetics to nucleic acid and/or protein or protein complexes or nucleic acid/protein complexes, differing binding inhibitor affinities or effectiveness, differing reaction kinetics, varying subcellular localization, and varying protein processing and/or stability).

a. Mutants. Some embodiments of the present invention provide nucleic acid sequences encoding mutant forms of XERICO proteins, (i.e., mutants), and the polypeptides encoded therein. In preferred embodiments, mutants result from mutation of the coding sequence, (i.e., a change in the nucleic acid sequence) and generally produce altered mRNAs or polypeptides whose structure or function may or may not be altered. Any given gene may have none, one, or many variant forms. Common mutational changes that give rise to variants are generally ascribed to deletions, additions or substitutions of nucleic acids. Each of these types of changes may occur alone, or in combination with the others, and at the rate of one or more times in a given sequence. Mutants of XERICO genes can be generated by any suitable method well known in the art, including but not limited to EMS (ethyl methanesulfonate) induced mutagenesis, site-directed mutagenesis, randomized “point” mutagenesis, and domain-swap mutagenesis in which portions of XERICO cDNA are “swapped” with the analogous portion of AT2G04240-like encoding cDNAs (Back and Chappell, (1996) PNAS 93: 6841-6845; herein incorporated by reference).

It is contemplated that is possible to modify the structure of a peptide having an activity (e.g., such as a RING-H2 zinc finger domain activity), for such purposes as increasing synthetic activity or altering the affinity of the XERICO protein for a binding partner or a kinetic activity. Such modified peptides are considered functional equivalents of peptides having an activity of a XERICO activity as defined herein. A modified peptide can be produced in which the nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide has been altered, such as by substitution, deletion, or addition. In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, the alteration increases or decreases the effectiveness of the XERICO gene product to exhibit a phenotype caused by altered abiotic stress tolerance production. In other words, construct “X” can be evaluated in order to determine whether it is a member of the genus of modified or variant XERICO genes of the present invention as defined functionally, rather than structurally. Accordingly, in some embodiments the present invention provides nucleic acids comprising a XERICO or AT2G04240-like sequence that complement the coding regions of any of SEQ ID NOs:02, as well as the polypeptides encoded by such nucleic acids.

Moreover, as described above, mutant forms of XERICO proteins are also contemplated as being equivalent to those peptides that are modified as set forth in more detail herein. For example, it is contemplated that isolated replacement of a leucine with an isoleucine or valine, an aspartate with a glutamate, a threonine with a serine, or a similar replacement of an amino acid with a structurally related amino acid (i.e., conservative mutations) will not have a major effect on the biological activity of the resulting molecule. Accordingly, some embodiments of the present invention provide nucleic acids comprising sequences encoding variants of XERICO gene products disclosed herein containing conservative replacements, as well as the proteins encoded by such nucleic acids. Conservative replacements are those that take place within a family of amino acids that are related in their side chains. Genetically encoded amino acids can be divided into four families: (1) acidic (aspartate, glutamate); (2) basic (lysine, arginine, histidine); (3) nonpolar (alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, proline, phenylalanine, methionine, tryptophan); and (4) uncharged polar (glycine, asparagine, glutamine, cysteine, serine, threonine, tyrosine). Phenylalanine, tryptophan, and tyrosine are sometimes classified jointly as aromatic amino acids. In similar fashion, the amino acid repertoire can be grouped as (1) acidic (aspartate, glutamate); (2) basic (lysine, arginine, histidine), (3) aliphatic (glycine, alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, serine, threonine), with serine and threonine optionally be grouped separately as aliphatic-hydroxyl; (4) aromatic (phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan); (5) amide (asparagine, glutamine); and (6) sulfur-containing (cysteine and methionine) (e.g., Stryer ed., Biochemistry, pg. 17-21, 2nd ed, WH Freeman and Co., 1981; herein incorporated by reference). Whether a change in the amino acid sequence of a peptide results in a functional homologue can be readily determined by assessing the ability of the variant peptide to function in a fashion similar to the wild-type protein. Peptides having more than one replacement can readily be tested in the same manner.

More rarely, a mutant includes “nonconservative” changes (e.g., replacement of a glycine with a tryptophan). Analogous minor variations can also include amino acid deletions or insertions, or both. Guidance in determining which amino acid residues can be substituted, inserted, or deleted without abolishing biological activity can be found using computer programs (e.g., LASERGENE software, DNASTAR Inc., Madison, Wis.; herein incorporated by reference in its entirety). Accordingly, other embodiments of the present invention provide nucleic acids comprising sequences encoding variants of XERICO gene products disclosed herein containing non-conservative replacements where the biological activity of the encoded protein is retained, as well as the proteins encoded by such nucleic acids.

b. Directed Evolution. Variants of XERICO genes or AT2G04240-like coding sequences may be produced by methods such as directed evolution or other techniques for producing combinatorial libraries of variants. Thus, the present invention further contemplates a method of generating sets of nucleic acids that encode combinatorial mutants of the XERICO and AT2G04240-like proteins, as well as truncation mutants, and is especially useful for identifying potential variant sequences (i.e., homologues) that possess the biological activity of the encoded XERICO and AT2G04240-like proteins. In addition, screening such combinatorial libraries is used to generate, for example, novel encoded XERICO and AT2G04240-like gene product homologues that possess novel binding or other kinetic specificities or other biological activities. The invention further provides sets of nucleic acids generated as described above, where a set of nucleic acids encodes combinatorial mutants of XERICO and AT2G04240-like proteins, or truncation mutants, as well as sets of the encoded proteins. The invention further provides any subset of such nucleic acids or proteins, where the subsets comprise at least two nucleic acids or at least two proteins.

It is contemplated that XERICO and AT2G04240-like, and in particular RING-H2 zinc finger domain genes; genes and coding sequences (e.g., any one or more of SEQ ID NOs:04 and fragments and variants thereof) can be utilized as starting nucleic acids for directed evolution. These techniques can be utilized to develop encoded XERICO and AT2G04240-like product variants having desirable properties such as increased kinetic activity or altered binding affinity.

In some embodiments, artificial evolution is performed by random mutagenesis (e.g., by utilizing error-prone PCR to introduce random mutations into a given coding sequence). This method requires that the frequency of mutation be finely tuned. As a general rule, beneficial mutations are rare, while deleterious mutations are common. This is because the combination of a deleterious mutation and a beneficial mutation often results in an inactive enzyme. The ideal number of base substitutions for targeted gene is usually between 1.5 and 5 (see, for e.g., Moore and Arnold (1996) Nat. Biotech., 14: 458-67; Leung et al. (1989) Technique, 1:11-15; Eckert and Kunkel (1991) PCR Methods Appl., 1:17-24; Caldwell and Joyce (1992) PCR Methods Appl., 2:28-33; and Zhao and Arnold (1997) Nuc. Acids. Res. 25:1307-08; all of which are herein incorporated by reference in its entirety).

After mutagenesis, the resulting clones are selected for desirable activity (e.g., screened for abolishing or restoring RING-H2 zinc finger domain activity in a constitutive mutant, in a wild type background where RING-H2 zinc finger domain activity is required, as described above and below). Successive rounds of mutagenesis and selection are often necessary to develop enzymes with desirable properties. It should be noted that only the useful mutations are carried over to the next round of mutagenesis.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the polynucleotides of the present invention are used in gene shuffling or special PCR procedures (e.g., Smith (1994) Nature, 370:324-25; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,837,458; 5,830,721; 5,811,238; 5,733,731, all of which are herein incorporated by reference). Gene shuffling involves random fragmentation of several mutant DNAs followed by their reassembly by PCR into full-length molecules. Examples of various gene shuffling procedures include, but are not limited to, assembly following DNase treatment, the staggered extension process (STEP), and random priming in vitro recombination.

c. Homologues. In some embodiments, the present invention provides isolated variants of the disclosed nucleic acid sequence encoding AT2G04240-like genes, and in particular of XERICO and AT2G04240-like, or related RING-H2 zinc finger domains genes, and the polypeptides encoded therein; these variants include mutants, fragments, fusion proteins or functional equivalents genes and protein products.

Some homologues or variants of encoded XERICO and/or AT2G04240-like products are contemplated to have an intracellular half-life dramatically different than the corresponding wild-type protein. For example, the altered protein is rendered either more stable or less stable to proteolytic degradation or other cellular process that result in destruction of, or otherwise inactivate the encoded XERICO and/or AT2G04240-like product. Such homologues, and the genes that encode them, can be utilized to alter the activity of the encoded XERICO and/or AT2G04240-like products by modulating the half-life of the protein. For instance, a short half-life can give rise to more transient biological effect. Other homologues have characteristics that are either similar to wild-type XERICO and/or AT2G04240-like, or which differ in one or more respects from wild-type XERICO and/or AT2G04240-like.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the amino acid sequences for a population of XERICO and/or a AT2G04240-like gene product homologues are aligned, preferably to promote the highest homology possible. Such a population of variants can include, for example, XERICO gene homologues from one or more species, or XERICO gene homologues from the same species but which differ due to mutation. Amino acids that appear at each position of the aligned sequences are selected to create a degenerate set of combinatorial sequences.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the combinatorial XERICO gene library is produced by way of a degenerate library of genes encoding a library of polypeptides that each include at least a portion of candidate encoded XERICO-protein sequences. For example, a mixture of synthetic oligonucleotides is enzymatically ligated into gene sequences such that the degenerate set of candidate XERICO sequences are expressible as individual polypeptides, or alternatively, as a set of larger fusion proteins (e.g., for phage display) containing the set of XERICO sequences therein.

There are many ways by which the library of potential XERICO homologues can be generated from a degenerate oligonucleotide sequence. In some embodiments, chemical synthesis of a degenerate gene sequence is carried out in an automatic DNA synthesizer, and the synthetic genes are ligated into an appropriate gene for expression. The purpose of a degenerate set of genes is to provide, in one mixture, all of the sequences encoding the desired set of potential XERICO sequences and AT2G04240-like sequences. The synthesis of degenerate oligonucleotides is well known in the art (see, e.g., Narang, (1983) Tetrahedron Lett. 39 (1):3-22; Itakura et al. Recombinant DNA, in Walton (ed.), Proceedings of the 3rd Cleveland Symposium on Macromolecules, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 273-289 (1981); Itakura et al. (1984) Annu. Rev. Biochem. 53:323; Itakura et al. (1977) Science 198:1056; Ike et al. (1983) Nucl. Acid Res., 11:477; all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. Such techniques have been employed in the directed evolution of other proteins (See e.g., Scott et al (1990) Science, 249:386-390; Roberts et al. (1992) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89:2429-2433; Devlin et al (1990) Science, 249:404-406; Cwirla et al (1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 87:6378-6382; in addition to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,223,409, 5,198,346, and 5,096,815; all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety).

Functional variants can be screened for by expressing the variant in an appropriate vector (described in more detail below) in a plant cell and analyzing the produced by the plant.

d. Truncation Mutants of XERICO and/or AT2G04240-Like Orthologs.

In addition, the present invention provides isolated nucleic acid sequences encoding fragments of encoded XERICO and/or AT2G04240-like ortholog products (i.e., truncation mutants), and the polypeptides encoded by such nucleic acid sequences. In preferred embodiments, the XERICO fragment is biologically active. An example of a truncation unit is described herein as a XERICO without a transmembrane domain (provided by SEQ ID NOs:358 and 359). In some embodiments of the present invention, when expression of a portion of a XERICO and/or a AT2G04240-like ortholog protein is desired, it may be necessary to add a start codon (ATG) to the oligonucleotide fragment containing the desired sequence to be expressed. It is well known in the art that a methionine at the N-terminal position can be enzymatically cleaved by the use of the enzyme methionine aminopeptidase (MAP). MAP has been cloned from E. coli (see, for e.g., Ben-Bassat et al. (1987) J. Bacteriol., 169:751-757; herein incorporated by reference) and Salmonella typhimurium and its in vitro activity has been demonstrated on recombinant proteins (see, for e.g., Miller et al. (1987) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 84:2718-1722; herein incorporated by reference). Therefore, removal of an N-terminal methionine, if desired, can be achieved either in vivo by expressing such recombinant polypeptides in a host that produces MAP (e.g., E. coli or CM89 or S. cerevisiae), or in vitro by use of purified MAP.

II. Transgenic Plants, Seeds, and Plant Parts

Plants of the present invention are transformed with at least one heterologous gene encoding an AT2G04240 or AT2G04240-like related gene, or encoding a sequence designed to increase AT2G04240 or AT2G04240-like related gene expression, according to any procedure well known or developed in the art. In some embodiments, the heterologous gene may introduce AT2G04240 or AT2G04240-like gene expression and protein activity of the expressed protein. In some embodiments, expression of the heterologous gene may decrease endogenous AT2G04240 or AT2G04240-like expression. In some embodiments, the heterologous gene may replace endogenous hololgogues of AT2G04240 or AT2G04240-like gene expression. It is contemplated that these heterologous genes, or nucleic acid sequences of the present invention and of interest, are utilized to increase the level of the polypeptide encoded by heterologous genes, or to decrease the level of the protein encoded by endogenous genes. It is contemplated that these heterologous genes, or nucleic acid sequences of the present invention and of interest, are utilized augment and/or increase the level of the protein encoded by endogenous genes. It is also contemplated that these heterologous genes, or nucleic acid sequences of the present invention and of interest, are utilized to provide a polypeptide encoded by heterologous genes.

The methods of the present invention are not limited to any particular plant. Indeed, a variety of plants are contemplated, including but not limited to grains, citrus, melons, fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs, ornamentals, bushes, grasses and trees. A polynucleotide sequence of a stress-regulated gene as disclosed herein can be particularly useful for performing the methods of the invention on a variety of plants, including but not limited to, Brassica sp. (e.g., B. napus, B. rapa, B. juncea and B. oleracea, etc.), alfalfa (e.g., Medicago sativa, etc.), rice (e.g., Oryza sativa, etc.), rye (e.g., Secale cereale, etc.), sorghum (e.g., Sorghum bicolor, Sorghum vulgare, etc.), millet (e.g., pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), proso millet (Panicum miliaceum), foxtail millet (Setaria italica), finger millet (Eleusine coracana), etc.), sunflower (e.g., Helianthus annuus, etc.), safflower (e.g., Carthamus tinctorius, etc.), wheat (e.g., Triticum aestivum, etc.), soybean (e.g., Glycine max, etc.), corn (Zea mays, etc.), tobacco (e.g., Nicotiana tabacum, etc.), potato (e.g., Solanum tuberosum, etc.), peanuts (e.g., rachis hypogaea, etc.), cotton (e.g., Gossypium barbadense, Gossypium hirsutum, etc.), sweet potato (e.g., Ipomoea batatus, etc.), cassava (e.g., Manihot esculenta, etc.), coffee (e.g., Cofea spp., etc.), coconut (e.g., Cocos nucifera, etc.), pineapple (e.g., Ananas comosus, etc.), citrus trees (e.g., Citrus spp., etc.), cocoa (e.g., Theobroma cacao, etc.), tea (e.g., Camellia sinensis, etc.), banana (e.g., Musa spp., etc.), avocado (e.g., Persea ultilane, etc.), fig (e.g., Ficus casica, etc.), guava (e.g., Psidium guava, etc.), mango (e.g., Mangifera indica, etc.), olive (e.g., Olea europaea, etc.), papaya (e.g., Carica papaya, etc.), cashew (e.g., Anacardium occidentale, etc.), macadamia (e.g., Macadamia integrifolia, etc.), ahnond (e.g., Prunus amygdalus, etc.), sugar beets (e.g., Beta vulgaris, etc.), sugarcane (e.g., Saccharum spp., etc.), oats (e.g., Aveneae spp., such as Avena sativa), duckweed (e.g., Lemna, etc.), barley (e.g., Hordeum vulgare, etc.), tomatoes (e.g., Lycopersicon esculentum, etc.), lettuce (e.g., Lactuca sativa, etc.), green beans (e.g., Phaseolus vulgaris, etc.), lima beans (e.g., Phaseolus limensis, etc.), peas (e.g., Lathyrus spp., etc.), and members of the genus Cucumis such as cucumber (C. sativus, etc.), cantaloupe (C. cantalupensis, etc.), and musk melon (C. melo), etc.; ornamentals such as azalea (e.g., Rhododendron spp., etc.), hydrangea (e.g., Macrophylla hydrangea, etc.), hibiscus (e.g., Hibiscus rosasanensis, etc.), roses (e.g., Rosa spp., etc.), tulips (e.g., Tulipa spp., etc.), daffodils (e.g., Narcissus spp., etc.), petunias (e.g., Petunia hybrida, etc.), carnation (e.g., Dianthus caryophyllus, etc.), poinsettia (e.g., Euphorbia pulcherrima, etc.), and chrysanthemum are also included. Additional ornamentals within the scope of the invention include impatiens, Begonia, Pelargonium, Viola, Cyclamen, Verbena, Vinca, Tagetes, Primula, Saint Paulia, Agertum, Amaranthus, Antihirrhinum, Aquilegia, Cineraria, Clover, Cosmo, Cowpea, Dahlia, Datura, Delphinium, Gerbera, Gladiolus, Gloxinia, Hippeastrum, Mesembryanthemum, Salpiglossos, and Zinnia.

Attempts were made to produce draught or salt tolerant poplar trees, for example, hybrid poplar (INRA 7171-B4, Populus tremula L.×P. alba L.) lines were transformed to overexpress a pine cytosolic glutamine synthetase (GS1) gene for enhancing tolerance to water stress when compared to nontransformed plants, (see, for e.g., el-Khatib et al., (2004) Tree Physiol. July; 24(7):729-36; herein incorporated by reference) and transgenic hybrid poplar trees were created (Populus×Xiao zhannica, cv. “balizhuang-yang”) with a mtl-D gene for enhancing salt tolerance, (see, for e.g., Sun et al., (2002), Sheng Wu Gong Cheng Xue Bao. July; 18(4):481-5; herein incorporated by reference). In one preferred embodiment, trees may be employed in practicing the present invention, in particular including nonhybrid and hybrid trees such as Poplars, (Populus spp.), for example, Populus×canescens, Populus alba×Populus tremula, etc.; and Conifers, for example, pines such as loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), slash pine (Pinus elliotii), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), and Monterey pine (Pinus radiata), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii); Western hemlock (Tsuga ultilane); Sitka spruce (Picea glauca); redwood (Sequoia sempervirens); true firs such as silver fir (Abies amabilis) and balsam fir (Abies balsamea); and cedars such as Western red cedar (Thuja plicata) and Alaska yellow-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis).

In another preferred embodiment, leguminous plants may be used in the practice of the present invention including but not limited to beans, such as guar, locust bean, fenugreek, soybean, garden beans, cowpea, mung bean, lima bean, fava bean, lentils, chickpea, etc.; Arachis, e.g., peanuts, Vicia, e.g., crown vetch, hairy vetch, adzuki bean, mung bean, and chickpea, Lupinus, e.g., lupine, trifolium, Phaseolus, e.g., common bean and lima bean, Pisum, e.g., field bean, Melilotus, e.g., clover, Medicago, e.g., alfalfa, Lotus, e.g., trefoil, lens, e.g., lentil, and false indigo. Preferred forage and turf grass for use in the methods of the invention include alfalfa, orchard grass, tall fescue, perennial ryegrass, creeping bent grass, and redtop. Other plants within the scope of the invention include Acacia, aneth, artichoke, arugula, blackberry, canola, cilantro, clementines, escarole, eucalyptus, fennel, grapefruit, honey dew, jicama, kiwifruit, lemon, lime, mushroom, nut, okra, orange, parsley, persimmon, plantain, pomegranate, poplar, radiata pine, radicchio, Southern pine, sweetgum, tangerine, triticale, vine, yams, apple, pear, quince, cherry, apricot, melon, hemp, buckwheat, grape, raspberry, chenopodium, blueberry, nectarine, peach, plum, strawberry, watermelon, eggplant, pepper, cauliflower, Brassica, e.g., broccoli, cabbage, ultilan sprouts, onion, carrot, leek, beet, broad bean, celery, radish, pumpkin, endive, gourd, garlic, snapbean, spinach, squash, turnip, ultilane, chicory, groundnut and zucchini.

A. Expression Cassettes

The methods of the present invention contemplate the use of at least one heterologous gene encoding a XERICO gene and/or AT2G04240-like gene, or encoding a sequence designed to decrease or increase, XERICO, or AT2G04240-like gene expression, as described previously (e.g., vectors encoding a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide comprising SEQ ID No:01, or nucleic acids corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 02. Heterologous genes include but are not limited to naturally occurring coding sequences, as well variants encoding mutants, variants, truncated proteins, and fusion proteins, as described above. Heterologous genes may be used alone or in combination with a selected agronomic trait (such as yield, etc.). Heterologous genes intended for expression in plants are first assembled in expression cassettes comprising a promoter. Methods which are well known to or developed by those skilled in the art may be used to construct expression vectors containing a heterologous gene and appropriate transcriptional and translational control elements. These methods include in vitro recombinant DNA techniques, synthetic techniques, and in vivo genetic recombination. Exemplary techniques are widely described in the art (see e.g., Sambrook. et al. (1989) Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, Cold Spring Harbor Press, Plainview, N.Y., and Ausubel, F. M. et al. (1989) Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, John Wiley & Sons, New York, N.Y.; herein incorporated by reference).

In general, these vectors comprise a nucleic acid sequence encoding a XERICO gene and/or AT2G04240-like gene, or encoding a sequence designed to decrease XERICO gene and/or AT2G04240-like gene expression, (as described above) operably linked to a promoter and other regulatory sequences (e.g., enhancers, polyadenylation signals, etc.) required for expression in a plant.

Promoters include but are not limited to constitutive promoters, tissue-, organ-, and developmentally-specific promoters, and inducible promoters. Examples of promoters include but are not limited to: constitutive promoter 35S of cauliflower mosaic virus; a wound-inducible promoter from tomato, leucine amino peptidase (“LAP,” see, for e.g., Chao et al. Plant Physiol 120: 979-992 (1999); herein incorporated by reference); a chemically-inducible promoter from tobacco, Pathogenesis-Related 1 (PR1) (induced by salicylic acid and BTH (benzothiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester)); a tomato proteinase inhibitor II promoter (PIN2) or LAP promoter (both inducible with methyl jasmonate); a heat shock promoter (see, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,267; herein incorporated by reference); a tetracycline-inducible promoter (see, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,422; herein incorporated by reference); and seed-specific promoters, such as those for seed storage proteins (e.g., phaseolin, napin, oleosin, and a promoter for soybean beta conglycin (see, for e.g., Beachy et al. (1985) EMBO J. 4: 3047-3053; herein incorporated by reference). All references cited herein are incorporated in their entirety.

The expression cassettes may further comprise any sequences required for expression of mRNA. Such sequences include, but are not limited to transcription terminators, enhancers such as introns, viral sequences, and sequences intended for the targeting of the gene product to specific organelles and cell compartments.

A variety of transcriptional terminators are available for use in expression of sequences using the promoters of the present invention. Transcriptional terminators are responsible for the termination of transcription beyond the transcript and its correct polyadenylation. Appropriate transcriptional terminators and those which are known to function in plants include, but are not limited to, the CaMV 35S terminator, the tm1 terminator, the pea rbcS E9 terminator, and the nopaline and octopine synthase terminator (see, for examples, Odell et al. (1985) Nature 313:810; Rosenberg et al. (1987) Gene, 56:125; Guerineau et al. (1991) Mol. Gen. Genet. 262:141; Proudfoot (1991) Cell 64:671); Sanfacon et al. (1991) Genes Dev., 5:141; Mogen et al. (1990) Plant Cell, 2:1261; Munroe et al. (1990) Gene 91:151; Ballas et al. (1989) Nucleic Acids Res. 17:7891; Joshi et al. (1987) Nucleic Acid Res., 15:9627, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety).

In addition, in some embodiments, constructs for expression of the gene of interest include one or more of sequences found to enhance gene expression from within the transcriptional unit. These sequences can be used in conjunction with the nucleic acid sequence of interest to increase expression in plants. Various intron sequences have been shown to enhance expression, particularly in monocotyledonous cells. For example, the introns of the maize Adh1 gene have been found to significantly enhance the expression of the wild-type gene under its cognate promoter when introduced into maize cells (see, for e.g., Callis et al. (1987) Genes Develop. 1: 1183; herein incorporated by reference). Intron sequences have been routinely incorporated into plant transformation vectors, typically within the non-translated leader.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the construct for expression of the nucleic acid sequence of interest also includes a regulator such as a nuclear localization signal (see, for e.g., Kalderon et al. (1984) Cell 39:499; Lassner et al. (1991) Plant Molecular Biology 17:229; all of which are herein incorporated by reference), a plant translational consensus sequence (see, for e.g., Joshi (1987) Nucleic Acids Research 15:6643; all of which are herein incorporated by reference), an intron (see, for e.g., Luehrsen and Walbot (1991) Mol. Gen. Genet. 225:81; all of which are herein incorporated by reference), and the like, operably linked to the nucleic acid sequence encoding a XERICO gene.

In preparing the construct comprising the nucleic acid sequence encoding a XERICO gene, or encoding a sequence designed to decrease XERICO gene expression, various DNA fragments can be manipulated, so as to provide for the DNA sequences in the desired orientation (e.g., sense or antisense) orientation and, as appropriate, in the desired reading frame. For example, adapters or linkers can be employed to join the DNA fragments or other manipulations can be used to provide for convenient restriction sites, removal of superfluous DNA, removal of restriction sites, or the like. For this purpose, in vitro mutagenesis, primer repair, restriction, annealing, resection, ligation, or the like is preferably employed, where insertions, deletions or substitutions (e.g., transitions and transversions) are involved.

Numerous transformation vectors are available for plant transformation. The selection of a vector for use will depend upon the preferred transformation technique and the target species for transformation. For certain target species, different antibiotic or herbicide selection markers are preferred. Selection markers used routinely in transformation include the nptII gene which confers resistance to kanamycin and related antibiotics (see, for e.g., Messing and Vierra, (1982) Gene 19: 259; Bevan et al. (1983) Nature 304:184; all of which are incorporated herein by reference), the bar gene which confers resistance to the herbicide phosphinothricin (see, for e.g., White et al. (1990) Nucl Acids Res. 18:1062; Spencer et al. (1990) Theor. Appl. Genet. 79:625; all of which are incorporated herein by reference), the hph gene which confers resistance to the antibiotic hygromycin (see, for e.g., Blochlinger and Diggelmann, (1984) Mol. Cell. Biol. 4:2929; herein incorporated by reference), and the dhfr gene, which confers resistance to methotrexate (see, for e.g., Bourouis et al. EMBO J., 2:1099 (1983); herein incorporated by reference).

In some preferred embodiments, the Ti (T-DNA) plasmid vector is adapted for use in an Agrobacterium mediated transfection process (see e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,981,839; 6,051,757; 5,981,840; 5,824,877; and 4,940,838; all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety). Construction of recombinant Ti and Ri plasmids in general follows methods typically used with the more common vectors, such as pBR322. Additional use can be made of accessory genetic elements sometimes found with the native plasmids and sometimes constructed from foreign sequences. These may include but are not limited to structural genes for antibiotic resistance as selection genes.

There are two systems of recombinant Ti and Ri plasmid vector systems now in use. The first system is called the “cointegrate” system. In this system, the shuttle vector containing the gene of interest is inserted by genetic recombination into a non-oncogenic Ti plasmid that contains both the cis-acting and trans-acting elements required for plant transformation as, for example, in the pMLJ1 shuttle vector and the non-oncogenic Ti plasmid pGV3850. The use of T-DNA as a flanking region in a construct for integration into a Ti- or Ri-plasmid has been described in EPO No. 116,718 and PCT Application Nos. WO 84/02913, 02919 and 02920 all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety). See, for further examples, Herrera-Estrella (1983) Nature 303:209-213; Fraley et al. (1983) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci, USA 80:4803-4807; Horsch et al. (1984) Science 223:496-498; and DeBlock et al. (1984) EMBO J. 3:1681-1689, all of which are herein incorporated by reference).

The second system is called the “binary” system or “binary vector” in which two plasmids are used; the gene of interest is inserted into a shuttle vector containing the cis-acting elements required for plant transformation. The other necessary functions are provided in trans by the non-oncogenic Ti plasmid as exemplified by the pBIN19 shuttle vector and the non-oncogenic Ti plasmid PAL4404. Some of these vectors are commercially available.

In other embodiments of the invention, the nucleic acid sequence of interest is targeted to a particular locus on the plant genome. Site-directed integration of the nucleic acid sequence of interest into the plant cell genome may be achieved by, for example, homologous recombination using Agrobacterium-derived sequences. Generally, plant cells are incubated with a strain of Agrobacterium which contains a targeting vector in which sequences that are homologous to a DNA sequence inside the target locus are flanked by Agrobacterium transfer-DNA (T-DNA) sequences, as previously described (see, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,967; herein incorporated by reference). One of skill in the art knows that homologous recombination may be achieved using targeting vectors that contain sequences that are homologous to any part of the targeted plant gene, whether belonging to the regulatory elements of the gene, or the coding regions of the gene. Homologous recombination may be achieved at any region of a plant gene so long as the nucleic acid sequence of regions flanking the site to be targeted is known.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a common soil bacterium that causes crown gall disease by transferring some of its DNA to the plant host. The transferred DNA (T-DNA) is stably integrated into the plant genome, where its expression leads to the synthesis of plant hormones and thus to the tumorous growth of the cells. In yet other embodiments, the nucleic acids such as those disclosed herein is utilized to construct vectors derived from plant (+) RNA viruses (e.g., brome mosaic virus, tobacco mosaic virus, alfalfa mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus, tomato mosaic virus, and combinations and hybrids thereof). Generally, the inserted heterologous polynucleotide can be expressed from these vectors as a fusion protein (e.g., coat protein fusion protein) or from its own subgenomic promoter or other promoter. Methods for the construction and use of such viruses are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,846,795; 5,500,360; 5,173,410; 5,965,794; 5,977,438; and 5,866,785, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.

B. Vectors for Expressing a XERICO and/or a AT2G04240-Like Gene

The nucleic acid sequences of the present invention may be employed for producing polypeptides by recombinant techniques. Thus, for example, the XERICO nucleic acid sequence may be included in any one of a variety of expression vectors for expressing a polypeptide. In some embodiments of the present invention, vectors include, but are not limited to, chromosomal, nonchromosomal and synthetic DNA sequences (for example, derivatives of SV40, bacterial plasmids, phage DNA; baculovirus, yeast plasmids, vectors derived from combinations of plasmids and phage DNA, and viral DNA such as vaccinia, adenovirus, fowl pox virus, and pseudorabies). It is contemplated that any vector may be used as long as it is replicable and viable in the host plant or microbe.

In particular, some embodiments of the present invention provide recombinant constructs comprising one or more of the nucleic sequences as broadly described above (for example, SEQ ID NO:02). In some embodiments of the present invention, the constructs comprise a vector, such as a plasmid or viral vector, into which a nucleic acid sequence of the invention has been inserted, in a forward or reverse orientation. In preferred embodiments of the present invention, the appropriate nucleic acid sequence is inserted into the vector using any of a variety of procedures. In general, the nucleic acid sequence is inserted into an appropriate restriction endonuclease site(s) by procedures known in the art.

Large numbers of suitable vectors are known to those of skill in the art, and are commercially available. Such vectors include, but are not limited to, the following vectors: 1) Bacterial—pQE70, pQE60, pQE-9 (Qiagen), pBS, pD10, phagescript, psiX174, pbluescript SK, pBSKS, pNH8A, pNH16a, pNH18A, pNH46A (Stratagene); ptrc99a, pKK223-3, pKK233-3, pDR540, pRIT5 (Pharmacia); and 2) Eukaryotic—pWLNEO, pSV2CAT, pOG44, PXT1, pSG (Stratagene) pSVK3, pBPV, pMSG, and pSVL (Pharmacia). Any other plasmid or vector may be used as long as they are replicable and viable in the host. In some preferred embodiments of the present invention, plant expression vectors comprise an origin of replication, a suitable promoter and enhancer, and also any necessary ribosome binding sites, polyadenylation sites, splice donor and acceptor sites, transcriptional termination sequences, and 5′ flanking nontranscribed sequences. In other embodiments, DNA sequences derived from the SV40 splice, and polyadenylation sites may be used to provide the required nontranscribed genetic elements.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a heterologous nucleic acid sequence of interest is introduced directly into a plant. One vector useful for direct gene transfer techniques in combination with selection by the herbicide Basta (or phosphinothricin) is a modified version of the plasmid pCIB246, with a CaMV 35S promoter in operational fusion to the E. coli GUS gene and the CaMV 35S transcriptional terminator (Intl. Publication No. WO 93/07278; herein incorporated by reference).

C. Generating Transgenic Plants: Transformation Techniques

Once a nucleic acid sequence encoding a XERICO gene is operatively linked to an appropriate promoter and inserted into a suitable vector for the particular transformation technique utilized (e.g., one of the vectors described above), the recombinant DNA described above can be introduced into the plant cell in a number of art-recognized ways. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the choice of method might depend on the type of plant targeted for transformation. In some embodiments, the vector is maintained episomally. In other embodiments, the vector is integrated into the genome. A method of the invention can be performed by introducing a polynucleotide portion of a plant stress-regulated gene into the plant. A polynucleotide can be introduced into a cell by a variety of methods well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the polynucleotide can be introduced into a plant cell using a direct gene transfer method such as electroporation or microprojectile mediated transformation, or using Agrobacterium mediated transformation. Non-limiting examples of methods for the introduction of polynucleotides into plants are provided in greater detail herein.

In addition to direct transformation, in some embodiments, the vectors comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a XERICO gene are transferred using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (see, for e.g., Hinchee et al. (1988) Biotechnology, 6:915; Ishida et al. (1996) Nature Biotechnology 14:745, all of which are herein incorporated by reference). Agrobacterium is a representative genus of the gram-negative family Rhizobiaceae. Its species are responsible for plant tumors such as crown gall and hairy root disease. In the dedifferentiated tissue characteristic of the tumors, amino acid derivatives known as opines are produced and catabolized. The bacterial genes responsible for expression of opines are a convenient source of control elements for chimeric expression cassettes. Heterologous genetic sequences (e.g., nucleic acid sequences operatively linked to a promoter of the present invention), can be introduced into appropriate plant cells, by means of the Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The Ti plasmid is transmitted to plant cells on infection by Agrobacterium and is stably integrated into the plant genome (Schell (1987) Science, 237: 1176; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). Species which are susceptible infection by Agrobacterium may be transformed in vitro.

In particular, methods for transformation techniques for overexpressing nucleic acids encoding RING type proteins (specifically nucleic acids from moss, Physcomitrella patens (Hedw.) B.S.G., are shown for soybean, rapeseed/canola, corn, and wheat in U.S. Patent Appln. Nos. 20040107463 and 20020102695; all of which are herein incorporated by reference. Further, numerous examples of plant stress-regulated genes, transformation methods and transgenic plants including genes for and plants expressing Arabidopsis thaliana RING transcription factors are described in U.S. Patent Appln. Nos. 20020023280; 20020160378; 20040009476; 20040078852; 20040019927; 20040019927; 20060021088; 20060041961; 20060041962; 20020059663; 20040045049; all of which are herein incorporated by reference, in addition to Arabidopsis thaliana DREB1A transcription factors for providing a transgenic plant having improved tolerance to environmental stresses such as dehydration, low temperature and salt, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,670,528; herein incorporated by reference.

Intl. Publications WO 2002/016655; WO 2004/092398; and WO 2004/061122; all of which are herein incorporated by reference. Examples of transgenic forage plants are described in U.S. Patent Appln. Pub. Nos. 20020019997A1; 20020023279A1; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,666; all of which are herein incorporated by reference. Additional plant transcription factors and methods of using these plant transcription factors for providing environmental stress tolerance in plants are shown in U.S. Patent Appln. Pub. No. 20050028234 (C-repeat/dehydration-responsive element-binding factor increases tolerance of the cell and the plant to chilling, oxidative stress, water-deficit, or salt); including RING domain stress tolerance genes in Intl. Publications WO 03/062455; WO 2004/090141; and U.S. Patent Appln. No. 20040091878; all of which are herein incorporated by reference.

Further examples of transformation techniques for providing transgenic berry plants are provided (see, for e.g., Oosumi et al. (2005) Planta Published online: 1 December: 1-12; Cao et al. (1998) Plant Cell Rep 18, 266-270; all of which are herein incorporated by reference) while nonlimiting exemplary transformation methods are provided for other crop plants including tobacco and lotus plants in Bellucci et al. (2000) Plant Cell Tiss Org Cult 62, 141-151; alfalfa Galili et al. (2000) Transgenic Res 9, 137-144 and Trieu et al. (2000) Plant Journal 22, 531-541; fescue Wang et al. (2000) Plant Cell Rep 20, 213-219; potato Chakraborty et al. (2000) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97, 3724-3729 and Maimann et al. (2000) Plant Journal 23, 747-758; tomato Van Roekel et al. (1993) Plant Cell Rep 12, 644-647; Brassica Guerche et al. (1990) Mol Gen Genet 221, 306-314; bean Jaaska (1997) Genetic Resources & Crop Evol 44, 557-574; sunflower Müller et al. (2001) Transgenic Res 10, 435-444; and herb Niu et al. (2000) Plant Cell Rep 19, 304-310; all of which are herein incorporated by reference.

Transgenic plants have been produced of a number of fruit species thus providing nonlimiting exemplary transformation methods, including but not limited to the following examples: kiwi-fruit (Uematsu et al. (1991) Plant Cell Reports 10, 286-290); papaya (Fitch et al. (1990) Plant Cell Reports 9, 189-194); citrus (Vardi et al. (1990) Plant Science 69, 199-206); apple (James et al. (1990) In: (Eds G. & Grierson, D.), Genetic Engineering of Crop Plants, Lycett, Butterworths, London, pp. 239-248); strawberry (Nehra et al. (1990) Plant Cell Reports 9, 10-13); grape (Mullins et al. (1990) Bio/Technology 8, 1041-1045); cranberry (Serres et al. (1992) J American Soc. for Horticultural Sci. 117:174-180; peach (Hammerslag (1988) J America Soc. for Horticultural Sci. 111, 164-166); plum (Mante et al. (1991) Bio/Technology 9, 853-857); and orange Spiegel-Roy et al. (1983) Zeitschrift fur Pflanzenphysiologie 109, 41-48; all of which are herein incorporated by reference.

In some embodiments, direct transformation in the plastid genome is used to introduce the vector into the plant cell (See e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,451,513; 5,545,817; 5,545,818; PCT application WO 95/16783, all of which are incorporated herein by reference). The basic technique for chloroplast transformation involves introducing regions of cloned plastid DNA flanking a selectable marker together with the nucleic acid encoding the RNA sequences of interest into a suitable target tissue (e.g., using biolistics or protoplast transformation with calcium chloride or PEG). The 1 to 1.5 kb flanking regions, termed targeting sequences, facilitate homologous recombination with the plastid genome and thus allow the replacement or modification of specific regions of the plastome. Initially, point mutations in the chloroplast 16S rRNA and rps12 genes conferring resistance to spectinomycin and/or streptomycin are utilized as selectable markers for transformation (see, for e.g., Svab et al. (1990) PNAS, 87:8526; Staub and Maliga, (1992) Plant Cell, 4:39; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). The presence of cloning sites between these markers allowed creation of a plastid targeting vector introduction of foreign DNA molecules (see, for e.g., Staub and Maliga (1993) EMBO J., 12:601; herein incorporated by reference). Substantial increases in transformation frequency are obtained by replacement of the recessive rRNA or r-protein antibiotic resistance genes with a dominant selectable marker, the bacterial aadA gene encoding the spectinomycin-detoxifying enzyme aminoglycoside-3′-adenyltransferase (Svab and Maliga (1993) PNAS, 90:913; herein incorporated by reference). Other selectable markers useful for plastid transformation are known in the art and encompassed within the scope of the present invention. Plants homoplasmic for plastid genomes containing the two nucleic acid sequences separated by a promoter of the present invention are obtained, and are preferentially capable of high expression of the RNAi encoded by the DNA molecule.

In other embodiments, vectors useful in the practice of the present invention are microinjected directly into plant cells by use of micropipettes to mechanically transfer the recombinant DNA (see, for e.g., Crossway (1985) Mol. Gen. Genet, 202:179; herein incorporated by reference). In still other embodiments, the vector is transferred into the plant cell by using polyethylene glycol (see, for e.g., Krens et al. (1982) Nature, 296:72; Crossway et al. (1986) BioTechniques, 4:320; all of which are herein incorporated by reference); fusion of protoplasts with other entities, either minicells, cells, lysosomes or other fusible lipid-surfaced bodies (see, for e.g., Fraley et al. (1982) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 79:1859; herein incorporated by reference); protoplast transformation (see, for e.g., EP 0 292 435; herein incorporated by reference); direct gene transfer (see, for e.g., Paszkowski et al. (1984) EMBO J., 3:2717); Hayashimoto et al. (1990) Plant Physiol. 93:857; all of which are herein incorporated by reference).

In still further embodiments, the vector may also be introduced into the plant cells by electroporation (see, for e.g., Fromm, et al. (1985) Pro. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 82:5824; Riggs et al. (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83:5602; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). In this technique, plant protoplasts are electroporated in the presence of plasmids containing the gene construct. Electrical impulses of high field strength reversibly permeabilize biomembranes allowing the introduction of the plasmids. Electroporated plant protoplasts reform the cell wall, divide, and form plant callus.

In yet other embodiments, the vector is introduced through ballistic particle acceleration using devices (e.g., available from Agracetus, Inc., Madison, Wis. and Dupont, Inc., Wilmington, Del.). (See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050; and McCabe et al. Biotechnology 6:923 (1988); all of which are herein incorporated by reference). See, for further examples, Weissinger et al. Annual Rev. Genet. 22:421 (1988); Sanford et al. Particulate Science and Technology, 5:27 (1987) (onion); Svab et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 87:8526 (1990) (tobacco chloroplast); Christou et al. Plant Physiol., 87:671 (1988) (soybean); McCabe et al. Bio/Technology 6:923 (1988) (soybean); Klein et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 85:4305 (1988) (maize); Klein et al. Bio/Technology, 6:559 (1988) (maize); Klein et al. Plant Physiol., 91:4404 (1988) (maize); Fromm et al. Bio/Technology, 8:833 (1990); and Gordon-Kamm et al. Plant Cell, 2:603 (1990) (maize); Koziel et al. Biotechnology, 11:194 (1993) (maize); Hill et al. Euphytica, 85:119 (1995) and Koziel et al. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 792:164 (1996); Shimamoto et al. Nature 338: 274 (1989) (rice); Christou et al. Biotechnology, 9:957 (1991) (rice); Datta et al. Bio/Technology 8:736 (1990) (rice); European Application EP 0 332 581 (orchardgrass and other Poaceae); Vasil et al. Biotechnology, 11: 1553 (1993) (wheat); Weeks et al. Plant Physiol., 102: 1077 (1993) (wheat); Wan et al. Plant Physiol. 104: 37 (1994) (barley); Jahne et al. Theor. Appl. Genet. 89:525 (1994) (barley); Knudsen and Muller, Planta, 185:330 (1991) (barley); Umbeck et al. Bio/Technology 5: 263 (1987) (cotton); Casas et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:11212 (1993) (sorghum); Somers et al. Bio/Technology 10:1589 (1992) (oat); Torbert et al. Plant Cell Reports, 14:635 (1995) (oat); Weeks et al. Plant Physiol., 102:1077 (1993) (wheat); Chang et al. WO 94/13822 (wheat) and Nehra et al. The Plant Journal, 5:285 (1994) (wheat); all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

1. Marker-Assisted Trait Selection and Plant Breeding

In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method for marker-assisted selection. Marker-assisted selection involves the selection of plants having desirable phenotypes based on the presence of particular nucleotide sequences “markers” or expressed produce, such as GUS or GFP. The use of markers allows plants to be selected early in development, often before the phenotype would normally be manifest. Because it allows for early selection, marker-assisted selection decreases the amount of time need for selection and thus allows more rapid genetic progress. Briefly, marker-assisted selection involves obtaining nucleic acid from a plant to be selected. The nucleic acid obtained is then probed with probes that selectively hybridize under stringent, preferably highly stringent, conditions to a nucleotide sequence or sequences associated with the desired phenotype. In one embodiment, the probes hybridize to any of the stress-responsive genes or regulatory regions disclosed herein, for example, any one of SEQ ID NOs:02, 04, 290, 292, 294, 297, 299, 301 and 360-363. The presence of any hybridization products formed is detected and plants are then selected on the presence or absence of the hybridization products.

An additional aspect provides a method for marker-assisted breeding to select plants having an altered resistance to abiotic stress comprising obtaining nucleic acid molecules from the plants to be selected; contacting the nucleic acid molecules with one or more probes that selectively hybridize under stringent, preferably highly stringent, conditions to a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:02, 04, 290, 292, 294, 297, 299, 301 and 360-363; detecting the hybridization of the one or more probes to the nucleic acid sequences wherein the presence of the hybridization indicates the presence of a gene associated with altered resistance to abiotic stress; and selecting plants on the basis of the presence or absence of such hybridization. Marker-assisted selection can also be accomplished using one or more probes which selectively hybridize under stringent, preferably highly stringent conditions, to a nucleotide sequence comprising a polynucleotide expressed in response associated with a particular stress, for example, a nucleotide sequence comprising any of SEQ ID NOs:02, 04, 290, 292, 294, 297, 299, 301 and 360-363. In each case marker-assisted selection can be accomplished using a probe or probes to a single sequence or multiple sequences or as fusion sequences. If multiple sequences are used they can be used simultaneously or sequentially.

2. Regeneration.

After selecting for transformed plant material that can express a heterologous XERICO gene encoding a XERICO protein, or AT2G04240-like gene encoding a AT2G04240-like protein or variant thereof, whole plants are regenerated. Plant regeneration from cultured protoplasts is described in Evans et al. Handbook of Plant Cell Cultures, Vol. 1: (MacMillan Publishing Co. New York, 1983); and Vasil I. R. (ed.), Cell Culture and Somatic Cell Genetics of Plants, Acad. Press, Orlando, Vol. I, 1984, and Vol. III, 1986; herein incorporated by reference. It is known that many plants can be regenerated from cultured cells or tissues, including but not limited to all major species of sugarcane, sugar beet, cotton, fruit and other trees, legumes and vegetables, and monocots (e.g., the plants described above). Means for regeneration vary from species to species of plants, but generally a suspension of transformed protoplasts containing copies of the heterologous gene is first provided. Callus tissue is formed and shoots may be induced from callus and subsequently rooted.

Alternatively, embryo formation can be induced from the protoplast suspension. These embryos germinate and form mature plants. The culture media will generally contain various amino acids and hormones, such as auxin and cytokinins. Shoots and roots normally develop simultaneously. Efficient regeneration will depend on the medium, on the genotype, and on the history of the culture. The reproducibility of regeneration depends on the control of these variables.

3. Generation of Transgenic Lines

Transgenic lines are established from transgenic plants by tissue culture propagation. The presence of nucleic acid sequences encoding an exogenous XERICO gene and/or AT2G04240-like gene or mutants or variants thereof may be transferred to related varieties by traditional plant breeding techniques. Examples of transgenic lines are described herein and in Examples. Transgenic lines are established from transgenic plants by tissue culture propagation. The presence of nucleic acid sequences encoding a heterologous gene or mutants or variants thereof may be transferred to related varieties by traditional plant breeding techniques.

Transgenic lines over-expressing XERICO or AT2G04240-like genes of drought resistant cultivars may be utilized for evaluation of drought resistant activity. These transgenic lines are then utilized for evaluation of abiotic stress tolerance and agronomic traits such as phenotype, color, pathogen resistance and other agronomic traits.

4. Evaluation of Abiotic Stress Tolerance

The transgenic plants and lines are tested for the effects of the transgene on abiotic stress tolerance phenotype. The parameters evaluated for abiotic stress tolerances are compared to those in control untransformed plants and lines. Parameters evaluated include rates of abiotic stress tolerance production, effects of drying, water deprivation, high or low salt, light, heat, cold; effects on altering steady-state ratios of abiotic stress tolerance and altering effects on abiotic stress tolerance production. Rates of abiotic stress tolerance production can be expressed as a unit of time, or in a particular tissue or as a developmental state; for example, abiotic stress tolerance production in Arabidopsis can be measured in leaves and in plant parts. These tests are conducted both in the greenhouse and in the field. The terms “altered abiotic stress tolerance” and “altering abiotic stress tolerance” refers to any changes in abiotic stress tolerance production. An example of such changes is shown in FIG. 02.

5. Monitoring a Population of Plants for Abiotic Stress Tolerance

A further aspect provides a method for monitoring a population of plants comprising providing at least one sentinel plant containing a recombinant polynucleotide comprising a stress responsive regulatory sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:02 with exemplary examples in Table 2 which is operatively linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding a detectable marker, for example a fluorescent protein. Additional aspects provide the use of various regulatory sequences including those associated with osmotic and/or salt stress (SEQ ID NO:02) with exemplary examples in Table 2) or fragments thereof wherein such fragments can alter transcription of an operatively linked nucleotide sequence in response to an abiotic stress.

It should be recognized that one or more polynucleotides, which are the same or different can be introduced into a plant, therein providing a means to obtain a genetically modified plant containing multiple copies of a single transgenic sequence, or containing two or more different transgenic sequences, either or both of which can be present in multiple copies. Such transgenic plants can be produced, for example, by simply selecting plants having multiple copies of a single type of transgenic sequence; by cotransfecting plant cells with two or more populations of different transgenic sequences and identifying those containing the two or more different transgenic sequences; or by crossbreeding transgenic plants, each of which contains one or more desired transgenic sequences, and identifying those progeny having the desired sequences.

EXPERIMENTAL

The following examples are provided in order to demonstrate and further Illustrate certain preferred embodiments and aspects of the present invention and are not to be construed as limiting the scope thereof.

In the experimental disclosure which follows, the following abbreviations apply: M (molar); mM (millimolar); μM (micromolar); nM (nanomolar); mol (moles); mmol (millimoles); μmol (micromoles); nmol (nanomoles); gm (grams); mg (milligrams); μg (micrograms); pg (picograms); L (liters); ml (milliliters); μl (microliters); cm (centimeters); mm (millimeters); μm (micrometers); nm (nanometers); ° C. (degrees Centigrade/Celsius).

Example I Materials and Methods Experimental Procedures Plant Materials and Growth Conditions

Arabidopsis thaliana, ecotype Columbia (Col), was used as the wild-type plant for phenotypic assays for comparison to transgenic 35S::XERICO Arabidopsis thaliana, plants in these experiments. Unless noted otherwise, plants were grown under sterile conditions on MS nutrient agar media (1×MS basal medium (Sigma, stock number M5519) with 2% sucrose and 0.3% phytagel (Sigma) containing 2% sucrose or on soil in a growth chamber (16 h light/8 h dark) at 23° C., after stratification. For monitoring of hypocotyl elongation and root growth with response salt/osmotic stress, a minimum of 20 seeds were sowed on MS nutrient agar media containing specified treatments, following which the plates were held in the vertical position for 7 days. For testing the effects of ABA on germination and early seedling growth, seeds were grown horizontally. For abiotic stress treatments, wild-type seedlings were grown on MS nutrient agar media containing 2% sucrose for 10-days and then treated the stresses indicated in FIG. 1, for up to 24 hour without a treatment control. Samples were collected at the indicated time and frozen immediately in liquid N₂ and were stored at −80° C. until use. Experiments were performed in triplicates and repeated at least three times.

Generating Transgenic Plants Over-Expressing XERICO

A full-length cDNA of XERICO (At2g04240; SEQ ID NO:02 and 12) was amplified by PCR using primers 5′-TTTGGATCCGACAACATCATTTCTACCGACA-3′ (forward; SEQ ID NO:437) and 5′-CCCTCTAGATAGCTGTACACAACAAACACACTC-3′ (reverse; SEQ ID NO:438); designed to contain BamHI and XbaI site (restriction enzymes used for this invention were purchased from Roche Inc.), respectively. The resulting product (SEQ ID NO:11) was digested with BamHI and XbaI and inserted between a 35S promoter of the Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV; SEQ ID NO:376) and a nopaline synthase terminator in the pCB302-3 binary vector containing a bar gene encoding phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (PAT) inside the T-DNA for the selection of transformants (see, for e.g., Xiang et al. (1999) Plant Mol. Biol. 40(4):711-7; herein incorporated by reference). The vector was introduced into Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58 (see, for e.g., Han et al. (1997) Transgenic Research 6: 415-420; herein incorporated by reference), then used to transform Arabidopsis ecotype Columbia by the floral-dip method as described by Clough and Bent (1998) Plant J. 16:735-743; herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Eighteen of T3 progeny resulting from self-crosses that were homozygous were used for phenotypic characterizations.

RNA Extraction and Northern Blot Analysis

Total RNA was extracted using the Trizol reagent method (Gibco-BRL, Gaithersburg, Md.). For northern blot analysis, 10 μg of total RNA from each sample was denatured and separated using a 1% agarose-formaldehyde gel. RNA was transferred onto a Hybond-N+ membrane (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.) by capillary action. Gene-specific probes were prepared by PCR and labeled with [³²P]-dCTP using a Prime-it II Random Primer Labeling kit (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.). Primers used in this analysis were following: XERICO (forward; SEQ ID NO:439, 5′-TTGGAACATCACTTGCCCAT-3 and reverse; SEQ ID NO:440, 5′-TGTGTTCAAACAAGAGCTCCA-3′), AtNCED3 (forward, SEQ ID NO:441, 5′-AATCATACTCAGCCGCCATT-3′ and reverse; SEQ ID NO:442, 5′-TTTAGTTCCGTCCGGTGAGAA-3′), AtCYP707A2 (forward; SEQ ID NO:443, 5′-GCAAATCTCATCTTCATCGT-3′ and reverse; SEQ ID NO:444, 5′-TGTCGAATGCTGAATTGCTC-3′), RD29a (forward; SEQ ID NO:445, 5′-GTGGAGAAGATCTCTACCGAGAAGG-3′ and reverse; SEQ ID NO:446, 5′-CATCAAAGACGTCAAACAAAACACA-3′), and Actin 8 (forward; SEQ ID NO:447, 5′-ATGAAGATTAAGGTCGTGGCA-3′ and reverse; SEQ ID NO:450, 5′-TCCGAGTTTGAAGAGGCTAC-3′). Hybridization was carried out using ULTRAhyb® according to the manufacturer's instructions (Ambion, Austin, Tex.), and a Kodak Biomax film (Sigma) was exposed to the blot. An Actin 8 gene (SEQ ID NO:457) or ethidium bromide-stained ribosomal RNA was used as a loading control.

Drought Stress Treatment and Measurements of ABA Content

Drought stress was treated by the method of Qin and Zeevaart (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96:15354-15361; herein incorporated by reference. In brief, aerial parts of Arabidopsis plants were harvested from 14 day-old seedlings, and the fresh weight was reduced rapidly (<10 min) by 12-15%, using a hair dryer. The stressed samples were stored in a polyethylene bag in darkness at 23° C. for six hours. Samples were frozen immediately in liquid N₂ and were stored at −80° C. until use. Material used for ABA determinations was lyophilized followed by a dry weight was measure. The procedure for extraction, purification, and quantitation of ABA was as described (Cornish and Zeevaart, (1984) Plant Physiol. 76:1029-1035; herein incorporated by reference) with modifications. The lyophilized samples were extracted and homogenized in 80% (v/v) aqueous acetone with a Polytron homogenizer (Brinkmann Instruments, Westbury, N.Y.). Five mL of 1 M phosphate buffer (pH 8.0) was added to the extract. After removal of the acetone on a rotary evaporator, lipids were removed by partitioning the aqueous concentrate twice with hexanes. The pH of the aqueous phase was adjusted to 2.5 with 6 N HCl and extracted three times with ethyl acetate. The acidic fraction was collected and dried in a centrifugal vacuum concentrator (Jouan, Winchester, Va.) and subjected to reverse-phase HPLC (see, for e.g., Cornish and Zeevaart, (1984) Plant Physiol. 76:1029-1035; herein incorporated by reference in its entirety).

Drought Tolerance and Water Loss Analysis

Thirty-days-old wild-type and 35S::XERICO plants, grown in pots (10×10×10 cm), with approximately 10 leaves were kept in a growth room maintained without further watering to evaluate their drought tolerance. For water loss analysis, three fully expanded leaves from three wild-type and 35S::XERICO plants that had developed approximately 14 leaves were detached and left on a bench to dry. The leaves were weighed at certain times to determine the rate of water loss. Each experiment was done at least three times.

Measurement of Stomatal Aperture

Leaves were taken at 11:00 AM (Light turns on at 9:00 AM) from 4-week-old soil-grown wild-type plants and 35S::XERICO plants. Immediately after the harvest, a commercial nail polisher was applied to the lower epidermis. The prepared epidermal strips were observed under a Nikon Diaphot, inverse microscope. Pictures were taken with a Sony MAVICA digital camera and used for measurements of stomatal aperture. The apertures of the stomatal pores were measured by using ‘the measure tool’ of Adobe PhotoShop 5.5 (Adobe Systems Inc.), which calculates the distances between any two points.

Gene Expression Analysis Using Affymetrix GeneChip™

Total RNA isolation: wild-type Arabidopsis plants and the 35S::XERICO Arabidopsis plants were grown for 20 days on soil under long-day conditions (16 h light/8 h dark). The plant samples (aerial parts) were pooled from several batches of plants to minimize a variation in gene expression patterns caused by a subtle change in environmental condition and harvested around 4:00 PM. These experiments were duplicated. Methods for the preparation of cRNA from mRNA, and the subsequent steps leading to hybridization and scanning of the ATH1 GeneChip Arrays, were performed as described (see, for e.g., Ko et al. (2004) Plant Physiol. 135:1069-1083; Ko and Han, (2004) Plant Mol. Biol. 55:433-453; all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety). The average difference and expression call, for each of the duplicated samples, was computed using Microarray Suite (MAS) 5.0 (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, Calif.) with default parameters. The resulting hybridization intensity values (signal intensity) reflect the abundance of a given mRNA species relative to the total mRNA population were used to calculate the fold-changes of individual gene expressions between 35S::XERICO plants and wild-type plants. Expression data from this experiment was recorded. Technical references for Arabidopsis GeneChip® arrays include, for example, Hennig et al. (2003) Plant Mol Biol 53: 457-465; Liu et al. (2002) Bioinformatics 18: 1593-1599; Lockhart et al. (1996) Nat Biotechnol 14: 1675-1680; Menges et al. (2003) Plant Mol Biol 53: 423-442 and Redman et al. (2004) Plant J 38: 545-561; all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Yeast Two-Hybrid Screening

Two-hybrid screening was performed using the BD Matchmaker™ library construction and screening kit (Clonetech, Palo Alto, Calif.); pGADT7 was used as the base for a GAL4 activation domain (AD) vector and pGBKT7 was used for a GAL4 DNA-binding domain (DNA-BD) vector (pGADT7 and pGBKT7 were obtained from “BD Matchmaker Library Construction & Screening Kits” (Clontech, Palo Alto, Calif.)). The yeast strain AH109 (leu⁻, trp⁻, Ade⁻, his⁻) (obtained from “BD Matchmaker Library Construction & Screening Kits (Clontech, Palo Alto, Calif.)) with chromosomally integrated reporter genes lacZ and HIS under the control of the GAL1 promoter activated by the GAL4 transcription factor was used to host all constructs. Truncated XERICO cDNA without a transmembrane domain (SEQ ID NO: 451) was amplified by PCR using primers 5′-GGGGGAATTCGAGTCATTTGATTTCCGGGT-3′ (forward; SEQ ID NO:449) and 5′-GGGGCTGCAGTCACCAAACATTAGAAGAAAGC-3′ (reverse; SEQ ID NO:450) designed to contain EcoRI and PstI site, respectively. The amplified PCR product was digested with EcoRI and PstI, and subcloned into pGBKT7 as a fusion to the DNA binding domain of GAL4 and verified by sequencing. The pGBKT7/XERICO vector was used as a bait to screen an Arabidopsis thaliana cDNA library in pGADT7 as a fusion to the activation domain of GAL4. Transformation of AH109 was performed using the Matchmaker Library Protocol (Protocol No. PT3624-2; Version No. PR21638, Clontech, Palo Alto, Calif.; herein incorporated by reference in its entirety). Positive clones were isolated from high stringency screening on SD DO medium (-His, -Ade, -Leu, -Trp, Clontech, Palo Alto, Calif.) and sequenced. Yeast two-hybrid interactions were further confirmed in vivo by vector swap. For the swap, truncated XERICO was subcloned into pGADT7 as a GAL4 AD vector.

Example II Transgenic Plants Over-Expressing XERICO Demonstrated Hypersensitivity to Salt and Osmotic Stress During Germination and Early Seedling Growth

XERICO (At2g04240; SEQ ID NO:02) is a single copy gene in the Arabidopsis genome that encodes a small protein (162 amino acids; SEQ ID NO:01) with an N-terminal transmembrane domain (SEQ ID NO:09), a RING-H2 zinc-finger motif located at the C-terminus (SEQ ID NO:3), and a serine-rich domain in the middle (SEQ ID NO:08) (FIG. 1 a). XERICO is expressed ubiquitously in the plant, but its transcript is accumulated more in the actively growing tissues (FIG. 1 b). Using Affymetrix GeneChip array data available on the AtGenExpress website (AtGenExpress, http://web.uni-frankfurt.de/fb15/botanik/mcb/AFGN/atgenex.htm), transcriptional regulation of XERICO was examined at various aspects of plant growth and development, including during plant hormonal and environmental stress responses. The information obtained showed that salt and osmotic stress considerably induced the expression of XERICO, reaching the highest level (up to 5.8-fold increase compared to control) at 6 hours (FIG. 1 c), which was validated by Northern blot analysis (FIG. 1 d). These results showed that XERICO may function in salt/osmotic stress responses.

Example III Transgenic Plants Over-Expressing XERICO Demonstrated Hypersensitivity to Salt and Osmotic Stress During Germination and Early Seedling Growth

Transgenic Arabidopsis plants over-expressing the gene (35S::XERICO) were created during the course of the present inventions. See, EXAMPLE I for methods. Fifteen out of 18 over-expression transgenic lines showed similar phenotypes such as short hypocotyl, round-shaped rosette leaves, ABA hyper-sensitivities of early seedling growth. Of these 15 lines, three T3 homozygous lines (SS1-6, SS6-6 and SS8-3) were used for further phenotypic characterizations based on their XERICO expression levels (FIG. 2 a). The early seedling growth of all of the tested 35S::XERICO plants was hypersensitive to both salt and osmotic stresses, compared to wild-type plants (FIG. 2 b). To address whether the observed sensitivity of the 35S::XERICO plants is from a defect in potassium uptake for osmoregulation, effects of both LiCl treatment, an inhibitor of potassium uptake, and a low potassium environment were investigated. In the experiments conducted during the course of the present inventions, no significant differences in the seedling growth between wild-type plants and 35S::XERICO plants upon these treatments were observed (FIG. 3 c). These results show that the sensitivity to salt/osmotic stress of the 35S::XERICO plants in early seedling growth is not likely due to a defect in potassium uptake.

Example VI A 35S::XERICO Plant is Hypersensitive to ABA

Since the hypersensitivity to salt or osmotic stress was the most prominent phenotype of the three independent T3 homozygous lines of 35S::XERICO plants, the functional relationship of the gene with ABA, a plant stress hormone involved in salt and drought stress adaptation, was investigated. Even at the sub-micro molar concentration of exogenous ABA (0.1 μM), the growth of all three independent lines of 35S::XERICO plants were arrested immediately after germination compared to wild-type plants (FIG. 3 a). Although 35S::XERICO plants germinated slightly later than wild-type even in the absence of exogenous ABA (FIG. 3 c), germination was further delayed following ABA treatment. At 0.1 μM of ABA, 13% of 35S::XERICO plants were germinated 1.5 day after sowing, while 43% of wild-type seeds germinated. In the presence of 1.0 μM ABA, more than 20% of 35::XERICO plants failed to germinate, even after the prolonged incubation (FIG. 3 c). Germination was scored by the emergence of a radicle (>1 mm). The number of ‘cotyledon opening’ of seedlings at five days after sowing were counted and recorded. At 1 μM ABA, 35::XERICO plants did not develop a cotyledon, while approximately 80% of wild-type plants had opened cotyledons (FIG. 3 d). For evaluation of the loss-of-function phenotypes of this gene, anti-sense transgenic plants of XERICO were produced. Significant phenotypic changes in cotyledon openings in the anti-sense transgenic plants were observed.

Example V Upregulation of XERICO Modulates the Expression of ABA-Biosynthesis and ABA-Responsive Genes

35S::XERICO plants appeared to have disturbance in ABA homeostasis, therefore transcriptional regulation of genes involved in the control of endogenous ABA level was investigated. AtNCED3 (9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase; At3g14440; SEQ ID NO: 383) encodes a key enzyme in ABA biosynthesis (SEQ ID NO:382) (see, for e.g., Iuchi et al, (2001) Plant J. 27:325-333; herein incorporated by reference), while AtCYP707A2 (ABA 8′-hydroxylase; At2g29090; SEQ ID NO:427 and 428) was recently identified as a key enzyme in the oxidative catabolism of ABA (see, for e.g., Kushiro et al. (2004) EMBO J. 23:1647-1656; Saito et al. (2004) Plant Physiol. 134:1439-1449; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). Transcripts of AtNCED3 (SEQ ID NO:452) was clearly increased by ABA treatment in both wild-type and 35S::XERICO plants (FIG. 4 a). However, in the 35S::XERICO plants, the ABA induction of the AtNCED3 was much stronger than wild-type plants. The expression of AtNCED3 peaked at 6-hour after ABA treatment and then sustained up to 24-hour. However, the induction of AtNCED3 was decreased after the peak at 3-hour in wild-type plants. Accordingly, AtCYP707A2 (SEQ ID NO:428) induction kinetics was changed in both wild-type and 35S::XERICO plants, probably to control the endogenous ABA level. The expression of AtCYP707A2 was sustained up to 24-hour in the 35::XERICO plants (FIG. 4 a).

The expression of an ABA and desiccation-inducible gene (RD29a/COR78/LTI78; At5g52310; SEQ ID NO:386) (Yamaguchi-Shinozaki and Shinozaki, (1993) Mol. Gen. Genet. 236:331-340; herein incorporated by reference) as a positive control was investigated. The result showed that the induction of RD29a was strongly enhanced in the 35S::XERICO plants compared to wild-type plants when treated with exogenous ABA (FIG. 4 a). It was noted that RD29a gene expression was much stronger in 35::XERICO plants without ABA treatment.

Drought treatment, which induces endogenous ABA, showed a more clear distinction between wild-type and mutant plants. Transcriptional upregulation of AtNCED3 (SEQ ID NO:452) by drought treatment was much faster and stronger in 35::XERICO plants than in wild-type plants (FIG. 4 b). Substantial induction of AtCYP707A2 (SEQ ID NO:428) appeared one-hour after the drought treatment in the 35::XERICO plants, implying more rapid synthesis and accumulation of endogenous ABA in the 35S::XERICO plants (FIG. 4 b). These results show that ABA may regulate the expression of ABA biosynthetic gene and the catabolic gene, with the upregulation of XERICO altering this regulation.

Upregulation of XERICO in Arabidopsis induced hypersensitivity to salt/osmotic stress and ABA treatments during germination and early seedling growth. It was contemplated that hypersensitivity to ABA may have come from altered ABA metabolism or signaling. ABA is known to affect the expression of many genes involved in ABA metabolism (see, for e.g., Seo and Koshiba (2002) Trends Plant Sci. 7:41-48; herein incorporated by reference) therefore the transcriptional regulation of genes involved in the processes of ABA metabolism and signaling was investigated. Indeed, the kinetics of ABA- and drought-mediated induction of a key ABA biosynthesis gene (AtNCED3) (see, for e.g., Iuchi et al, (2001) Plant J. 27:325-333; Tan et al. (2003) Plant J. 35:44-56; all of which are herein incorporated by reference) was much faster and stronger in the 35S::XERICO plants compared to wild-type plants (FIG. 4 a). Moreover, the elevated expression of RD29a (SEQ ID NO:389) in the absence of ABA treatment and substantial induction of AtCYP707A2 (SEQ ID NO:428) one-hour after the drought treatment strongly suggests either a more rapid biosynthesis or higher level of endogenous ABA in the 35S::XERICO plants (FIG. 4).

Example VI Upregulation of XERICO Increases Cellular ABA Content

High level expression of ABA-biosynthetic and ABA-responsive genes in 35S::XERICO plants, in both the presence and absence of ABA and with drought treatment led to the prediction that 35S::XERICO transgenic plants should have elevated endogenous ABA. Therefore, endogenous ABA content with or without drought treatment by reverse-phase HPLC was measured. Results from three independent experiments showed that the levels of ABA in 35S::XERICO plants (SS1-6, SS6-6 and SS8-3) were more than 10-fold higher than in the wild-type plants when grown on soil for 14 days without drought treatment (FIG. 5). A six-hour drought treatment dramatically increased endogenous ABA content in the 35::XERICO plants, which is up to 3-fold higher than the ABA increase of wild-type plants (FIG. 5). These results clearly demonstrated that upregulation of XERICO gene increases cellular ABA levels. Upregulation of XERICO gene also substantially increased ABA biosynthesis (FIG. 5). However, it should be noted that the expression of transcriptional regulators of ABA signaling (e.g., ABI5 (ABA insensitive ABI gene family, member 15) (SEQ ID NO:321 and 322) ABI3 (ABA insensitive ABI gene family, member 3) (SEQ ID NO:323 and 324), AtMYB2 (SEQ ID NO:326 and 327), and AtMYC (SEQ ID NO:324 and 325); see, for e.g., Finkelstein et al. (2002) Plant Cell, 14 Suppl, S15-45; herein incorporated by reference) were not changed in the 35S::XERICO plants (Table 1). Thus hypersensitivity of 35::XERICO plants to ABA and salt/osmotic stress during germination and early seedling growth was associated with the increased level of endogenous ABA. However, no significant changes in the expression of XERICO upon ABA treatment (10 μM) up to 3-hours post-treatment were detected.

TABLE 1 Genes up or downregulated in the 35S::XERICO plants identified by Genechip analysis. WT^(c) MT^(e) Change^(f) Change FC^(h) Gene Name Affy I.D^(a) AGI^(b) (S.I.)^(d) (S.I.) p-value Call^(g) (Log₂) Up-regulated Genes ACC synthase (ACS11) 255177_at At4g08040 9.05 295.25 0.000028 I 5.0 XERICO 263325_at At2g04240 845.2 16610.2 0.000020 I 4.1 CYP707A2, ABA 8′-hydroxylase 266778_at At2g29090 47.2 192.95 0.000030 I 2.0 actin-like protein 249127_at At5g43500 162.9 583.4 0.000049 I 1.8 AtWRKY53 254231_at At4g23810 85 251.4 0.000269 I 1.4 Unknown protein 251072_at At5g01740 86.5 231.4 0.000020 I 1.4 Expressed protein 247882_at At5g57785 1585.45 3949.1 0.000030 I 1.3 Unknown protein 262661_s_at At1g14250 674.2 1602.4 0.000020 I 1.3 Unknown protein 245422_at At4g17470 482.4 1204.3 0.000020 I 1.3 Putative myrosinase-binding protein 265058_s_at At1g52040 226 584.75 0.000020 I 1.1 homolog At14a 256601_s_at At3g28290 632.2 1457.3 0.000022 I 1.1 Unknown protein 265441_at At2g20870 243.55 462.45 0.001344 I 1.1 NADH-dependent glutamate synthase 248267_at At5g53460 644.5 1422.8 0.000020 I 1.1 Vegetative Storage Protein Vsp1 245928_s_at At5g24780 3451 7121.2 0.000020 I 1.1 Expressed protein 253737_at At4g28703 58.95 158.8 0.000383 I 1.0 CYP90C1, rotundifolia (rot3) 246216_at At4g36380 58.8 116.75 0.000482 I 1.0 Putative myrosinase binding protein 265053_at At1g52000 424.6 645.9 0.000356 I 1.0 GH3 like protein 253908_at At4g27260 218.75 386.8 0.000206 I 1.0 Down-regulated Genes Expressed protein 258370_at At3g14395 64.65 4.6 0.999977 D −3.5 putative monodehydroascorbate reductase 258941_at At3g09940 43.5 3.35 0.998911 D −3.2 osmotin precursor 254889_at At4g11650 67.95 8.3 0.997941 D −3.2 putative protein 254692_at At4g17860 112.1 11.1 0.999854 D −3.0 nonspecific lipid-transfer proteinlike 247718_at At5g59310 141.8 31.55 0.999894 D −2.9 protein kinase, putative 256359_at At1g66460 41.05 7.7 0.997879 D −2.7 putative DNA binding protein 265263_at At2g42940 92.9 16.8 0.998940 D −2.6 unknown protein 263836_at At2g40330 89.05 19.85 0.999138 D −2.4 putative protein 250744_at At5g05840 61.75 18.75 0.999355 D −2.1 chlorophyll a/b binding protein 265722_at At2g40100 37.95 12.75 0.999980 D −1.7 hypothetical protein 265264_at At2g42930 1750.25 488.85 0.999704 D −1.7 Serine/threonine kinase-like 254253_at At4g23320 44.35 13.9 0.997859 D −1.7 hypothetical protein 251284_at At3g61840 160.4 63.15 0.999938 D −1.5 hypothetical protein 257057_at At3g15310 86.15 58.05 0.998664 D −1.4 putative tyrosine aminotransferase 263539_at At2g24850 173.2 68.25 0.999926 D −1.4 At-EXP11, expansin 261226_at At1g20190 1395.95 364.75 0.999955 D −1.3 Peroxidase 267053_s_at At2g38390 100.45 50.3 0.999867 D −1.3 unknown protein 262832_s_at At1g14870 345.75 250.25 0.999980 D −1.3 putative protein 246000_at At5g20820 539.3 253.65 0.999259 D −1.3 Putative ethylene response factor 264083_at At2g31230 135.25 52.6 0.999904 D −1.2 Similar to transcriptional activator CBF1 255937_at At1g12610 158.1 74.45 0.998141 D −1.2 hypothetical protein 261247_at At1g20070 1536.25 791.75 0.999979 D −1.2 CYP72B1, BL 26-hydroxylase 267614_at At2g26710 129 49.85 0.999050 D −1.1 CYP94C1, cytochrome p450 266246_at At2g27690 291.65 135.35 0.999970 D −1.1 myb family transcription factor 263549_at At2g21650 98.4 45.7 0.999799 D −1.1 putative lectin 257206_at At3g16530 236.25 113.25 0.999980 D −1.1 unknown protein 255479_at At4g02380 547.35 274.85 0.999975 D −1.1 extensin related 253024_at At4g38080 1098 451.45 0.999547 D −1.1 Ferritin 1 precursor 251109_at At5g01600 761.7 297 0.999817 D −1.1 RING zinc finger protein-like 249306_at At5g41400 265.5 134.35 0.999448 D −1.1 Nonspecific lipid-transfer protein precursor 247717_at At5g59320 640.85 302.6 0.999979 D −1.1 DC1.2 homologue - like protein 247478_at At5g62360 426.75 238.05 0.999963 D −1.1 hypothetical protein 245771_at At1g30250 1016.25 495.15 0.999951 D −1.1 unknown protein 258100_at At3g23550 99.75 55.35 0.999955 D −1.1 Similar to auxin-induced protein 15A 253103_at At4g36110 316.5 141.4 0.998702 D −1.1 CYP94B3, cytochrome p450 252368_at At3g48520 179.9 91.65 0.999933 D −1.1 putative protein DRT100 250277_at At5g12940 194.8 72.35 0.999685 D −1.1 apetala2 domain TINY like protein 245445_at At4g16750 344.1 107.2 0.999935 D −1.1 hypothetical protein 260744_at At1g15010 531.15 284.05 0.999980 D −1.0 phytocyanin 266884_at At2g44790 112.2 68.95 0.999181 D −1.0 unknown protein 265837_at At2g14560 162 112.4 0.999980 D −1.0 putative trypsin inhibitor 260551_at At2g43510 869.9 468.25 0.999980 D −1.0 Putative expansin 255822_at At2g40610 202.8 101.9 0.999980 D −1.0 calcium-binding protein-like 249417_at At5g39670 3318.4 1532.55 0.996443 D −1.0 ^(a)Identification number of Affymetrix Arabidopsis genechip (ATH1). ^(b) Arabidopsis Gene Index number. ^(c)WT, wild-type plants. ^(d)S.I., Average Signal Intensity of both replicates. ^(e)MT, 35S::XERICO plants (SS8-3 line). ^(f)Change p-value for S.I. of MT over S.I. of WT was caculated from both replicates by Microarray Suite (MAS) 5.0 (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA). Values close to 0.0 indicate likelihood for an increase (I), wherease values close to 1.0 indicate likelihood for a decrease (D). ^(g)Change calling caculated by MAS 5.0; I, increase, D, decrease. ^(h)Fold changes were calculated from signal log ratio of MT over WT by MAS 5.0. Averaged fold change of both replicate experiments were shown. Note: whole Genechip data with detailed statistical analysis was recorded for these experiments.

Example VII Upregulation of XERICO Confers Drought Tolerance in Arabidopsis

Increased ABA levels resulted in drought stress tolerance in Nicotiana plumbaginifolia (Qin and Zeevaart (2002) Plant Physiol. 128:544-551; herein incorporated by reference). Therefore, the effect of XERICO upregulation on drought stress tolerance by discontinued watering of 30-days-old wild-type and 35S::XERICO plants growing on soil in a 4-inch diameter pot were evaluated. Afterward, the plants were kept in a growth room maintained at low humidity. In contrast to early seedling growth, adult 35S::XERICO water stressed plants showed striking drought stress-tolerance when compared to wild-type plants. FIG. 6 a shows representative picture of each treatments after 10 days without watering. These drought tolerance treatment experiments were repeated with wild-type and 35S::XERICO plants planted side by side in one pot (FIG. 6 b). The results showed that enhanced drought-tolerance of 35::XERICO plants was successfully reproduced. Water retention after 10 days without watering was slightly higher in the pots having 35S::XERICO plants than those of wild-type plants, implying that the enhanced drought tolerance of 35S::XERICO plants may come from decreased water loss by transpiration. Measurements of fresh weights of detached leaves over different time periods was provided as an indicator of transpirational water loss. The most rapid loss of water occurred during the first 30 min after detachment (FIG. 6 c), which is consistent with the previous report by Qin and Zeevaart (2002) Plant Physiol. 128:544-551; herein incorporated by reference. The leaves from wild-type plants lost about 15% of their fresh weight in one hour, while leaves from 35S::XERICO plants had a much reduced water loss (about 7.5%) (FIG. 6 c). These data indicate that an increase of cellular ABA levels resulted in the closure of stomata of 35S::XERICO plants leaves thus decreasing water loss by transpiration. This was confirmed by observation of stomata of wild-type and 35S::XERICO plants where the majority of the stomata of 35S::XERICO plants were closed during day time when those of wild-type plants were opened (FIG. 8).

The Arabidopsis genome contains a large number of genes encoding RING finger proteins (see, for e.g., Jensen et al. (1998) FEBS Lett. 436:283-287; Lechner et al. (2002) Gene, 290:63-71; all of which are herein incorporated by reference), which implies evolutionarily important roles for these proteins in Arabidopsis growth and development. Many RING-H2 proteins function as part of the E3 ubiquitin ligases (see, for e.g., Tyers and Jorgensen (2000) Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 10:54-6; Joazeiro and Weissman (2000) Cell 102:549-552; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). Ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation plays key regulatory roles during several plant growth and developmental events and has been implicated in plant hormone signaling (see, for e.g., Gray et al. (1999) Genes Dev. 13:1678-1691; Hare et al. (2003) Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 6:453-462; Dill et al. (2004) Plant Cell, 16:1392-1405; Gagne et al. (2004) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 101:6803-6808; Dharmasiri et al. (2005) Nature, 435:441-445; all of which are herein incorporated by reference).

Example VIII XERICO Interacts In Vivo with AtUBC8 and AtTLP9, Respectively, in Yeast

The RING domain is known to play a role in protein-protein interaction thus experiments for identifying binding partners were provided with a yeast two-hybrid screening. AtTLP9 (At3g06380; SEQ ID NO:381) is a member of Arabidopsis TUBBY-like protein having an N-terminal F-box domain, which interacts with ASK1 (Arabidopsis Skp1-like 1; SEQ ID NO:388) (see, for e.g., Lai et al. (2004) EMBO J. 23:1647-1656; herein incorporated by reference). ASK1, one of the 21 Skp proteins in Arabidopsis, is involved in both vegetative growth and reproductive development (see, for e.g., Yang et al. (1999) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96:11416-11421; Zhao et al. (2003) Plant Physiol. 133:203-217; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). F-box protein is a component of SCF complexes, which acts as a factor for substrate recognition (see, for e.g., Bai et al. (1996) Cell 86:263-274; Pickart and Eddins (2004) Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1695:55-72; all of which are herein incorporated by reference).

Knock-out mutants of AtTLP9 showed ABA-insensitive phenotypes whereas transgenic plants overexpressing AtTLP9 were hypersensitive to ABA, suggesting that AtTLP9 may participate in ABA signaling pathway (see, for e.g., Lai et al. (2004) EMBO J. 23:1647-1656: herein incorporated by reference). AtUBC8 is a member of Arabidopsis ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, E2.

AtTLP9; SEQ ID NO:381 and AtUBC8; SEQ ID NO:379 were identified as potential interacting partners of XERICO in a yeast 2 hybrid system of the present invention. Their interactions in yeast were also confirmed in vivo under high-stringency conditions (FIG. 7). These demonstrations show that XERICO functions in ABA homeostasis on a post-translational level, probably through ubiquitin/proteasome-dependent substrate specific degradation by interacting with AtTLP9. Thus ubiquitin/proteasome pathway-mediated substrate-specific degradation is expected to play a role in XERICO function.

Example IX GeneChip Analysis of 35S::XERICO Plants

To find further functional clues of XERICO, a whole-transcriptome profiling of wild-type and 35S::XERICO plants that were grown for 20 days on soil was performed. Aerial parts of the plants for sampling were used because no significant phenotypic changes in the root development was observed. Gene expression data were obtained from two independent experiments conducted with the Arabidopsis ATH1 Genome Array (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, Calif.).

Eighteen up-regulated and 44 down-regulated genes were shown in the 35S::XERICO plants compared to the wild-type plants using two-fold change threshold (Table 1). The plant hormone metabolism/response-related genes comprise a significant portion of the differentially expressed genes. For example, ABA 8′-hydroxylases such as one or more of abscisic acid 8′-hydroxylase (one example is SEQ ID NOs:339), was upregulated up to four-fold in the 35::XERICO plants. The expression of ACS11, SEQ ID NO:329, one of the ACC synthase known as a rate-limiting enzyme in ethylene biosynthesis, was drastically upregulated (up to 32-fold) in the 35S::XERICO plants. In addition, the expression of BL 26-hydroxylase SEQ ID NO:422, which inactivates brassinosteroid hormones (see, for e.g., Turk et al. (2003) Plant Physiol. 133:1643-1653; herein incorporated by reference), was downregulated, whereas BR biosynthesis enzyme ROT3 (CYP90C1; SEQ ID NO:331; see, for e.g., Kim et al. (2005) Plant J. 41:710-721; herein incorporated by reference) was upregulated in the 35::XERICO plants. In addition, GA4 (gibberellin 3 β-hydroxylase; SEQ ID NO:424), which converts inactive form of GA to an active form (see, for e.g., Martin et al. (1996) Planta, 200:159-166; herein incorporated by reference), was down in the 35S: XERICO plants. These results show that the homeostasis of various plant hormones was altered in 35S::XERICO plants, possibly by over-accumulation of ABA.

35::XERICO plants produced substantially higher levels of ABA than the wild-type plants even without stress conditions GeneChip analysis shows that the expression of genes involved in ABA biosynthesis were not substantially altered. Thus increased level of endogenous ABA in the 35S::XERICO plants may be controlled at post-transcriptional level such as RNA processing or turnover (see, for e.g., Xiong et al. (2001) Dev. Cell, 1:771-781; herein incorporated by reference), or post-translational control. GENEVESTIGATOR analysis revealed that the transcription of XERICO and AtTLP9 are highly co-regulated in various conditions during plant growth and development (see, for e.g., Zimmermann et al. (2004) Plant Physiol 136:2621-2632; herein incorporated by reference) (FIG. 8). These observations further support the role of AtTLP9 as a functional partner of XERICO in planta.

GeneChip analysis for the present inventions showed that expression of many plant hormone biosynthesis genes (e.g., wherein plant hormones include ethylene, brassinosteroid, and gibberellic acid) were significantly changed in the 35S::XERICO plants compared to wild-type plants. See, Table 1. In addition to the well-characterized antagonistic relationships between ABA and gibberellic acid (GA), cytokinins, or auxins; recent studies have revealed various signaling interactions between ABA and one or more of ethylene, brassinosteroid, light, or sugars (for review, see, examples, Finkelstein and Gibson (2002) Curr. Opin. Plant Biol. 5:26-32; Fedoroff (2002) Sci STKE, RE10; Finkelstein et al. (2002) Plant Cell, 14 Suppl, S15-45; Gazzarrini and McCourt (2003) Ann. Bot. (Lond) 91, 605-612; and Rock and Sun (2005) Planta, 222, 98-106; all of which are herein incorporated by reference). Thus it is likely that cross-talks between ABA and other plant hormones are altered by ABA over-accumulation in the 35S::XERICO plants, resulting in the phenotypic alterations demonstrated by the 35S::XERICO plants.

In experiments conducted during the course of the present inventions, expression of XERICO was shown to be induced by salt/osmotic stress and overexpression of this gene increased cellular ABA levels. It is not clear how XERICO stimulates transcriptional regulation of the genes involved in ABA homeostasis. However, as shown herein, cellular ABA levels are altered by a gene encoding a RING finger protein that was not previously known to be involved in the ABA biosynthetic pathway. Future investigations will address whether XERICO can serve as a functional E3 ubiquitin ligase or whether XERICO is a target of AtTLP9 in a biochemical pathway, and further whether mechanisms for XERICO regulation of cellular ABA levels.

Example X Identification of XERICO (AT2G04240) Homologues in Brassicaceae and At2g04240-Like Genes in Other Plants

Plant sequences comprising RING-H2 zinc finger domains, low complexity regions and transmembrane motifs were identified in a databank using The Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) for finding regions of local similarity between reference sequences of XERICO mRNA (SEQ ID NO:02) or XERICO protein sequence (SEQ ID NO:01) or amino acid sequence of the XERICO RING-H2 domain (SEQ ID NO:03) or nucleic acid coding region for the XERICO RING-H2 domain (SEQ ID NO:04) at default settings, except for removing “Filter” or “Filter the sequence for low-complexity regions” or “masking of low-complexity” and the like, at the following websites maintained by GenBank at NCBI, European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Expert Protein Analysis System (ExPASy) World Wide Web (WWW) proteomics server of the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB) (SWISS-PROT), The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) Plant Gene indices, Gramene: A Resource for Comparative Grass Genomics, UK Crop Plant Bioinformatics Network (UK CropNet) and BrassicaDB BLAST Server maintained at the John Innes Centre. Further, the following WU BLAST 2.08 family of programs were used: blastp for comparing an amino acid query sequence against a protein sequence database, blastn for comparing a nucleotide query sequence against a nucleotide sequence database, and blastx for comparing a nucleotide query sequence translated in all reading frames against a protein sequence database. See, for e.g., States et al. (1993) METHODS: A Companion to Methods in Enzymology Vol. 3, No. 1, August, pp. 66-70, 1991; States et al. (1993) Nat. Genet. 3:266-72; States and Gish; and Altschul et al. (1990) Mol. Biol. 215:403-410; all of which are herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. Homologous nucleic acid sequences were translated using online DNA to RNA translation websites, in particular ExPASy translation, and compared to any of the most relevant of SEQ ID NO:01, SEQ ID NO:02, SEQ ID NO:03, or SEQ ID NO:04 for obtaining percentages of identity with results summarized in Table 2.

TABLE 2 Plant At2g04240 sequences, At2g04240-like sequences, and other types of RING finger sequences. Genus sp. RING RING H2 (C3H2C3) protein mRNA domain mRNA RING unless aa na aa na otherwise SEQ ID identity SEQ ID identity SEQ ID identity SEQ ID identity designated NO: XX* (%) NO: XX (%) NO: XX (%) NO: XX (%) Arabidopsis SEQ ID 100% SEQ ID 100% SEQ ID 100% SEQ ID 100% Thaliana NO: 01 NO: 02 NO: 03 NO: 04 (thale cress/mouse-ear cress) Putative RING zinc finger protein At2g04240 PIR|E84455 Q9SI09_ARATH arab|TC264142 Thellungiella SEQ ID 82% SEQ ID 86% SEQ ID 95% SEQ ID 91% Halophila NO: 14 NO: 17 NO: 15 NO: 16 (salt cress) Q8S2S3_THEHA Brassica napus SEQ ID 81% SEQ ID 84% SEQ ID 93% SEQ ID 90% oilseed_rape|CD834580 NO: 19 NO: 21 partial NO: 18 NO: 20 RING zinc sequence finger protein similar to Q8S2S3; Q6I656_CITLA; and PIR|E84455 Lotus corniculatus SEQ ID 84% SEQ ID 84% SEQ ID 82% SEQ ID 75% var. japonicus NO: 74 partial NO: 77 partial NO: 73 NO: 75 1_japonicus|BP045442 sequence sequence BP045442 Glycine max SEQ ID 68% SEQ ID 66% SEQ ID 78% SEQ ID 70% Soybean NO: 99 NO: 102 NO: 100 NO: 101 TC217409 (Q8S2S3_THEHA) Putative RING zinc finger protein-like protein poplar|TC21770 SEQ ID 66% SEQ ID 80% SEQ ID 76% SEQ ID 70% similar to NO: 154 NO: 157 NO: 155 NO: 156 UP|Q6I656 (Q6I656) RING zinc finger protein Citrullus lanatus SEQ ID 70% SEQ ID 77% SEQ ID 70% SEQ ID 77% (Watermelon) NO: 31 NO: 33 NO: 30 NO: 32 RING zinc finger protein [Fragment] gi|49532976|dbj|BAD26589.1| Helianthus annuus SEQ ID 62% SEQ ID 40% SEQ ID 68% SEQ ID 49% sunflower|BU672034 NO: 79 partial NO: 81 partial NO: 78 NO: 80 (common sequence sequence sunflower) Glycine max SEQ ID 59% SEQ ID 66% SEQ ID 73% SEQ ID 81% Soybean|TC230215 NO: 95 NO: 98 NO: 96 NO: 97 probable RING zinc finger protein Medicago SEQ ID 58% SEQ ID 66% SEQ ID 70% SEQ ID 64% truncatula (barrel NO: 166 NO: 168 NO: 165 NO: 167 medic) medicago|TC96403 similar to UP|Q5ULY2 (Q5ULY2) Zinc finger family protein Poncirus trifoliata SEQ ID 56% SEQ ID 63% SEQ ID 72% SEQ ID 79% (Hardy orange) NO: 26 NO: 29 NO: 27 NO: 28 RING-H2 finger protein Lettuce|TC9685 SEQ ID 55% SEQ ID 76% SEQ ID 77% SEQ ID 76% putative RING NO: 103 NO: 106 NO: 104 NO: 105 zinc finger protein-like protein Fragaria x SEQ ID 55% SEQ ID 68% SEQ ID 76% SEQ ID 82% ananassa NO: 22 partial NO: 25 partial NO: 23 NO: 24 (hybrid sequence sequence strawberry) [Fragment] sptrembl|Q5ULY2 trembl|AY679613 Capsicum annuum SEQ ID 52% SEQ ID 56% SEQ ID 65% SEQ ID 46% pepper|CA525749 NO: 92 NO: 93 NO: 90 NO: 91 cotton|TC39148 SEQ ID 51% SEQ ID 57% SEQ ID 70% SEQ ID 61% similar to NO: 48 NO: 51 NO: 49 NO: 50 UP|Q6Z8T9 (Q6Z8T9) Zinc finger protein family-like Hevea SEQ ID 51% SEQ ID 60% SEQ ID 63% SEQ ID 65% brasiliensis (Para NO: 34 NO: 35 NO: 36 NO: 37 rubber tree) Putative C3HC4- type RING zinc finger protein [RGZF1] Q6XNP9_HEVBR Vitis vinifera SEQ ID 51% SEQ ID 59% SEQ ID 55% SEQ ID 83% grape|TC48889 NO: 40 NO: 42 NO: 39 NO: 41 similar to UP|Q6I656 (Q6I656) RING zinc finger protein Potato|TC120988 SEQ ID 50% SEQ ID 51% SEQ ID 65% SEQ ID 62% (Q8S2S3) NO: 86 NO: 89 NO: 87 NO: 88 Putative RING zinc finger protein Saccharum SEQ ID 50% SEQ ID 45% SEQ ID 57% SEQ ID 31% officinarum NO: 172 partial NO: 173 NO: 170 NO: 171 s_officinarum|BQ532997 Triphysaria SEQ ID 50% SEQ ID 46% SEQ ID 53% SEQ ID XX % yellow owl's NO: 70 NO: 72 NO: 71 NO: XX clover sorghum|TC10492 SEQ ID 50% SEQ ID 38% SEQ ID 50% SEQ ID 56% 5 homologue to NO: 136 partial NO: 137 partial NO: 134 NO: 135 UP|Q84PD9 (Q84PD9) Ring zinc finger protein-like protein Lycopersicon SEQ ID 49% SEQ ID 57% SEQ ID 65% SEQ ID 61% esculentum NO: 107 NO: 110 NO: 108 NO: 109 Tomato|TC15734 6 (Q8S2S3) Putative RING zinc finger protein-like protein spruce|TC4946 SEQ ID 57% SEQ ID 45% SEQ ID 61% SEQ ID XX % weakly similar to NO: 67 partial NO: 69 NO: 68 NO: XX UP|Q6I656 (Q6I656) RING zinc finger protein (Fragment), partial (57%) Oryza sativa SEQ ID 36% SEQ ID 40% SEQ ID 61% SEQ ID 57% (japonica cultivar- NO: 119 partial NO: 122 NO: 120 NO: 121 group) Q6Z8T9_ORYSA Zinc finger protein family-like Zea mays SEQ ID 71% SEQ ID 44% SEQ ID 59% SEQ ID 59% maize|TC302897 NO: 177 partial NO: 4 NO: 5 NO: 6 similar to UP|Q6Z8T9_ORYSA (Q6Z8T9) Zinc finger protein family-like, partial (71%) Saccharum SEQ ID 33% SEQ ID 52% SEQ ID 59% SEQ ID 52% officinarum > s_officinarum|TC49498 NO: 178 NO: 179 NO: 176 NO: 177 similar to UP|Q6Z8T9 (Q6Z8T9) Zinc finger protein family-like, partial (51%) sorghum|TC110812 SEQ ID 39% SEQ ID 48% SEQ ID 59% SEQ ID 59% similar to NO:113 NO:114 NO:111 NO:112 UP|BAD10011 (BAD10011) Zinc finger protein family-like, partial (74%) poplar|TC23157 SEQ ID 41% SEQ ID 51% SEQ ID 55% SEQ ID 59% weakly similar to NO: 159 NO: 162 NO: 160 NO: 161 Q8S2S3 Putative RING zinc finger protein-like protein Cucumis melo SEQ ID 40% SEQ ID 30% SEQ ID 40% SEQ ID 51% Q84KA9_CUCME NO: 186 NO: 187 NO: 184 NO: 185 RING/C3HC4/PHD zinc finger-like protein Zea mays SEQ ID 47% SEQ ID 48% SEQ ID 56% SEQ ID 54% maize|TC287578 NO: 125 partial NO: 127 partial NO: 124 NO: 126 similar to sequence sequence UP|Q6Z8T9_ORYSA (Q6Z8T9) Zinc finger protein family-like, partial (29%) Pinus taeda SEQ ID 43% SEQ ID 50% SEQ ID 59% SEQ ID 60% pine|TC67818 NO: 58 NO: 60 NO: 57 NO: 59 weakly similar to UP|Q5ULY2 (Q5ULY2) Zinc finger family protein Cucumis melo SEQ ID 40% SEQ ID 30% SEQ ID 41% SEQ ID 53% (Muskmelon) NO: 232 NO: 233 NO: 230 NO: 231 Q84KA9_CUCME Beta vulgaris SEQ ID 39% SEQ ID 45% SEQ ID 46% SEQ ID 56% beet|TC2159 NO: 205 partial NO: 7 partial NO: 203 NO: 204 Nicotiana SEQ ID 38% SEQ ID 48% SEQ ID 43% SEQ ID 58% tabacum (common NO: 64 partial NO: 65 partial NO: 62 NO: 63 tobacco) tobacco|BP130278 Mesembryanthemum SEQ ID 35% SEQ ID 45% SEQ ID 55% SEQ ID 60% crystallinumice_plant|BM300187 NO:213 NO:214 NO:211 NO:212 Triticum aestivum SEQ ID 35% SEQ ID 50% SEQ ID 57% SEQ ID 56% wheat|TC233399 NO: 82 NO: 85 NO: 83 NO: 84 similar to UP|Q6Z8T9 (Q6Z8T9) Zinc finger protein family-like Hordeum vulgare SEQ ID 35% SEQ ID 49% SEQ ID 55% SEQ ID 57% barley|TC132854 NO: 129 NO: 132 NO: 130 NO: 131 similar to Q6Z8T9 Zinc finger protein family-like Allium cepa SEQ ID 32% SEQ ID 34% SEQ ID 47% SEQ ID 54% onion|CF452180 NO: 228 NO: 229 NO: 226 NO: 227 Arabidopsis SEQ ID 55% SEQ ID 50% SEQ ID 55% SEQ ID 64% Thaliana NO: 259 NO: 261 NO: 258 NO: 260 RING-H2 zinc finger protein RHA2a RING- type; Sequence 1565 from U.S. Pat. No. WO0216655. Harper, et al. AT1G15100 Arabidopsis SEQ ID 52% SEQ ID 38% SEQ ID 52% SEQ ID XX % Thaliana NO: 272 NO: 274 NO: 271 NO: XX ATL2N_ARATH O22255 RING-H2 finger protein Arabidopsis SEQ ID 49% SEQ ID 48% SEQ ID 55% SEQ ID 57% Thaliana NO: 265 NO: 266 NO: 263 NO: 264 RING-H2 zinc finger protein RHA2B_ARATH Q9ZU51 Zea mays SEQ ID 43% SEQ ID 35% SEQ ID 43% SEQ ID 53% ring-H2 zinc NO: 145 NO: 144 NO: 142 NO: 143 finger protein - znf Q8W1C6_MAIZE AAL59234 Arabidopsis SEQ ID 43% SEQ ID 16% SEQ ID 43% SEQ ID 55% Thaliana NO: 275 NO: 278 NO: 276 NO: 277 RIE1 (RING- FINGER PROTEIN FOR EMBRYOGENESIS; RES protein) Xu and Li, 2003 AT2G01735 Zea mays SEQ ID 38% SEQ ID 34% SEQ ID 38% SEQ ID 59% Ring-H2 zinc NO: 146 NO: 149 NO: 147 NO: 148 finger protein Q5GAQ1_MAIZE Populus alba x SEQ ID 37% SEQ ID 34% SEQ ID 45% SEQ ID 59% Populus tremula NO: 244 NO: 247 NO: 245 NO: 246 RING-H2 subgroup RHE protein (RHE1) Oryza sativa SEQ ID 36% SEQ ID 33% SEQ ID 40% SEQ ID 53% (japonica cultivar- NO: 142 NO: 143 NO: 140 NO: 141 group) putative ring-H2 zinc finger protein Q84MU8_ORYSA AAP12944 Oryza sativa SEQ ID 36% SEQ ID 33% SEQ ID 40% SEQ ID 52% (japonica cultivar- NO: 150 NO: 153 NO: 151 NO: 152 group) putative ring-H2 zinc finger protein XP_470885 Oryza sativa SEQ ID 35% SEQ ID 35% SEQ ID 39% SEQ ID XX % (japonica cultivar- NO: 198 NO: 199 NO: 196 NO: XX group) Q8H5Z8_ORYSA AP003019 Arabidopsis SEQ ID 32% SEQ ID 31% SEQ ID 47% SEQ ID XX % Thaliana NO: 268 NO: 270 NO: 267 NO: XX ATL3J_ARATH Q9LY41 RING- H2 finger protein ATL3J/RHX1a/ ATL4 RING-H2 finger protein Arabidopsis SEQ ID 29% SEQ ID 50% SEQ ID 54% SEQ ID 58% Thaliana NO: 254 NO: 255 NO: 252 NO: 253 BRH1 RING-H2 brassinosteroid- responsive Molnar et al., 2002 Q9XF92_ARATH Arabidopsis SEQ ID NS SEQ ID 18% SEQ ID NS SEQ ID XX % Thaliana NO: 282 NO: 279 NO: 281 NO: XX COP1—C3HC4 HC RING Zn finger At2g32950 Populus x SEQ ID NS SEQ ID NS SEQ ID NS SEQ ID XX % canescens putative NO: 248 NO: 251 NO: 249 NO: 250 RING protein AY129244 *X as in SEQ ID NO: XX and XX % refers to information either not available or not provided.

Table 3. Low Complexity Motifs Including Serine Rich Regions

TABLE 4 Transmembrane sequence motifs SEQ ID NO Sequence SEQ ID NO: 478 GXX(C/G)XXXXNTAXXISIXK(G/E)IX SEQ ID NO: 456 SLSPSSSSPSSVTVSSENSSTSES SEQ ID NO: 457 AAAAAAAAAAA SEQ ID NO: 458 APSSPSSRFLFVAASPLP SEQ ID NO: 459 ASSSPSSDS SEQ ID NO: 460 SSSTPYSYFAS SEQ ID NO: 461 SSLSPSP SEQ ID NO: 462 SPSASLPSS SEQ ID NO: 463 SPPES SEQ ID NO: 464 STSES SEQ ID NO: 465 SSPSS SEQ ID NO: 466 SSSAS SEQ ID NO: 467 SSVSA SEQ ID NO: 468 SSMP SEQ ID NO: 469 SPSS SEQ ID NO: 470 SPSN SEQ ID NO: 471 SPSD SEQ ID NO: 472 SSSG SEQ ID NO: 473 SSST SEQ ID NO: 474 SSSS SEQ ID NO: 475 SSSP SEQ ID NO: 476 SSSA SEQ ID NO: 477 SSSN SEQ ID NO: 479 GXX(C/G)XXXXNTA(X)S(I/V)XI SEQ ID NO: 480 GMLCVILVNTALSISIVKGIV SEQ ID NO: 481 GMLCVILVNTALSISIFKGIL SEQ ID NO: 482 GMLCLILMNTAMPISIVKGIF SEQ ID NO: 483 GVICVVVMNTALSISIFKGIV SEQ ID NO: 484 GVLCVFQSILHIVGI SEQ ID NO: 485 NTALSXXXIXXXXSFLQIV SEQ ID NO: 486 GVLCIILVNTAMSISIFKGIX SEQ ID NO: 487 GVLGVILVNTAISISIIKEIL SEQ ID NO: 488 GVLGVILVNTAISISIVKEIL SEQ ID NO: 489 GVLCVILVNTAMSISIMKEIV SEQ ID NO: 490 DSVVAYLLYNTAVSIAILADMV SEQ ID NO: 491 GVLCIILVNTAMSISIFKGII SEQ ID NO: 492 SLLGFVLYNTAASVAILAGLV Identification of Transmembrane sequence motifs for Table 4, SEQ ID NO:478-480. TargetP website: Olof, et al., (2000) J of Molecular Biology 300: 1005-1016; herein incorporated by reference. www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/TargetP/ChloroP website: Nielsen, et al., (1997) Protein Engineering, 10:1-6, www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/ChloroP/.

All publications and patents mentioned in the above specification are herein incorporated by reference. Various modifications and variations of the described method and system of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Although the invention has been described in connection with specific preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the invention as claimed should not be unduly limited to such specific embodiments. Indeed, various modifications of the described modes for carrying out the invention which are obvious to those skilled in the relevant fields are intended to be within the scope of the following claims. 

1. An expression vector construct comprising a nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide at least 32% identical to SEQ ID NO:01, operably linked to a heterologous promoter, wherein said nucleic acid encodes a polypeptide comprising a RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain, a low complexity region, and a transmembrane domain for increasing tolerance to abiotic stress in a plant.
 2. The expression vector construct of claim 1, wherein said RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain comprises SEQ ID NO:06 or SEQ ID NO:07.
 3. The expression vector construct of claim 2, wherein said RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain has at least 40% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:03.
 4. The expression vector construct of claim 1, wherein said low complexity region is selected from one or more of the group SEQ ID NO:376-397.
 5. The expression vector construct of claim 1, wherein said transmembrane region consists of one or more of the group SEQ ID NO:09.
 6. The expression vector construct of claim 5, wherein said transmembrane region consists of one or more of the group SEQ ID NOs: 478-492.
 7. The expression vector construct of claim 1, wherein said polypeptide binds to a COP1-INTERACTING PROTEIN 8 SEQ ID NO:378 or a TUBBY-like protein 9 SEQ ID NO:380.
 8. The expression vector construct of claim 1, wherein said abiotic stress is one or more of drought tolerance and salt tolerance.
 9. The expression vector construct of claim 1, wherein said polypeptide is at least 56% identical to SEQ ID NO:01.
 10. The expression vector construct of claim 9, wherein said polypeptide is a full-length polypeptide.
 11. The expression vector construct of claim 1, wherein said heterologous promoter is a promoter operable in a plant.
 12. The expression vector construct of claim 1, wherein said heterologous promoter is a promoter operable in yeast.
 13. A transgenic plant comprising a heterologous nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide that is at least 32% identical to SEQ ID NO:01, wherein said polypeptide comprises a RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain, a low complexity region, and a transmembrane domain, for increasing tolerance to abiotic stress in a plant, for increasing tolerance to abiotic stress in a plant.
 14. The transgenic plant of claim 13, wherein said heterologous nucleic acid molecule is contained within the expression vector of claim
 1. 15. The transgenic plant of claim 14, wherein said plant is selected from the group consisting of Aizoaceae, Amaranthaceae, Alliaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Pinaceae, Poaceae, Rosaceae, Solanaceae, Salicaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and Vitaceae.
 16. The transgenic plant of claim 15, wherein said plant is selected from the group consisting of a crop plant, an herb plant, a turfgrass plant, an ornamental plant and a tree.
 17. The transgenic plant of claim 16, wherein said plant is selected from the group consisting of Arabidopsis sp., Capsicum sp., Citrullus sp., Fragaria sp., Glycine sp., Gossypium sp., Helianthus sp., Hevea sp., Hordeum sp., Lactuca sp., Lycopersicon sp., Lotus sp. Oryza sp., Pinus sp., Picea sp., Ponciru Sp., Solanum sp., Sorghum sp., Thellungiella sp., Triphysaria sp., Triticum sp., Vaccinium sp., and Zea species.
 18. A method for altering the phenotype of a plant, comprising: a) providing; i) an expression vector construct comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide at least 32% identical to SEQ ID NO:01, wherein said polypeptide comprises a RING-H2 zinc-finger motif transcription domain, a low complexity region, and a transmembrane domain, operably linked to a heterologous promoter, and ii) plant tissue; and b) transfecting the plant tissue with the vector so that the phenotype of a plant derived from said plant tissue is altered.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein said altered phenotype is altered environmental tolerance.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein said altered environmental tolerance is altered abiotic stress. 